Another Step in Life
by alex-1310
Summary: This is the continuation of WHAT'S NOT LOST IS GAINED, please join me in their next adventure and next step in life! Mainly Tate, but some McAbby included later!
1. Unexpected News

1A/N: Yeah, so I know I said this story would be up at the beginning of January, but I was busier than I thought so I am just now getting the first chapter posted, and I haven't even began the next chapter so it will probably be awhile before the next chapter gets posted, just a heads up on that.

A/N2:And I do not own anything related to CBS or NCIS, that's Donald Bellisario's unique work.

>For those of you who don't know, this is a continuation of _What's Not Lost is Gained_, so you might want to read that before you read this.

* * *

RECAP: Tony and Kate have been married for ten years. They have four children and are expecting their fifth. What adventures await them in this story? Read to find out!

Anthony Michael DiNozzo (Tony)-43

Caitlin Marie Todd DiNozzo (Kate)-39 ½

Kayden Andrew DiNozzo (Kade/Scout)-9

Antimony Caitlin DiNozzo (Annie/Munchkin)-8 ½

Kaylee Anthea DiNozzo (Kay/Lee/Baby Girl)-6

Anthony Colton DiNozzo (Ace/Little-T)-4

* * *

**Chapter One: Unexpected News**

It has been two months since Kate found out she was pregnant, which now makes her four months pregnant. She is really starting to show, and she a bit depressed about it, because with her other four pregnancies she didn't start to really show, until she almost six months pregnant. Gibbs has restrained her to desk duty only, and has told everyone to keep a close eye on her. When Kate found about that she completely lost it, she yelled and threw things at everyone, including Gibbs. She claimed she was a grown woman who had already given birth to four other children so she knew what she was doing. Then she threatened to kill anyone who mentioned her age, or told her she wasn't as young as she was when she had the other kids. A couple of hours later she apologized to everyone, blaming her hormones. Everyone forgave her, including Gibbs, because they knew what pregnant women were like, especially Kate, and she could get quite emotional about...well just about everything.

Today she and Tony were going back to the Dr. for another checkup. Gibbs let them leave at 4 o'clock because their appointment was at 4:30 on the other side of town. Once they got there they only had to wait a few minutes before the Dr. was ready to see them. When the Dr. began the ultrasound Kate and Tony smiled and held hands as they watched the picture. Then as the Dr. moved the device around on Kate's belly he commented,

"Oh my..my, my, my"

Kate and Tony looked at each other before Kate said,

"What?"

"Doc is everything okay?" questioned Tony

The Dr. told them to be quiet for one more second while he listened to the heartbeat. Then he turned to face them with a smile on his face.

"Doc what's wrong?" Tony asked again, obviously not paying attention to the Dr.'s face, but looking intently at the monitor.

"What is it Dr.?" Kate asked, noticing his smile

"Well there's nothing wrong with the baby, but I have some good news and some bad news"

"How can there be both" Tony commented annoyed

"Depends on how you look at it I suppose"

"Just tell us Dr. before my husband has a coronary" Kate said as she saw how red Tony's face was getting.

"Well you are definitely going to be spending more money than you thought"

"Why?"

"Because you're having twins" the Dr. told them happily

Kate's jaw dropped and Tony's face went from red to white before he fainted.

"TONY" Kate yelled as he fell. Luckily the Dr. had caught him on the way down.

"Wow, do you think he will be okay?" the Dr. asked

"Yeah, he does that sometimes. He'll get nervous or grossed out by something and forget to breathe, then he'll faint. He should wake up in a minute" she told him as she got off the table and knelt next to Tony, "Don't you remember when Kayden was born?"

"Oh yes, he did faint during that birth, and Kaylee's I believe"

Kate smiled and nodded. Then she bent over and kissed Tony on the lips. A few seconds later his eyes opened and he had a huge grin on his face.

"We're having twins" he said

"Yeah we are" Kate smiled at him

Then Tony grabbed her and kissed her again. This time the Dr. told them to make their next appointment when they were finished and he would see them again next month. As he left he rolled his eyes and said,

"Now I can see why you have four kids and two more on the way"

Tony and Kate both stopped kissing and laughed at his comment. One of the reasons they had picked Dr. Grayson was because he was funny, and him and Tony had hit it off right away. The first time Kate had met Dr. Grayson he made a joke that reminded her of something Tony would say and of course Tony thought it was hilarious. Kate actually had to break up their little interaction of jokes so that she could actually ask some serious questions that had to do with the reason they were there, which was because she was pregnant. It amazed Kate how much two men could be alike, yet so different. Dr. Grayson was probably about ten years older than Tony, and even though he cracked jokes and was very immature for a Dr. he, unlike Tony, had married young, straight out of highschool, to the girl he had dated since they were fourteen. Kate had found over the years that they only had two children, which she thought was a little strange, but he had told her that his wife said it was like she had three children to take care of, not just two. Kate had laughed and told him she felt that way about Tony, he was nothing but a child in a man's body.

After the Dr. had left Tony sat up and he smiled at Kate, and said,

"Twins Katie, we're having twins"

"I know Tony I was there when he told us" she smiled at him

"This is amazing. I just...I think my life gets better and better the older I get" he told her

"Wow I never thought I'd hear you say that" she told him

"I know right" he responded

She smiled at him and said,

"Well I'm glad your happy, but you not the one who has to pop these two babies out of your body"

Tony laughed and answered, "Yep that's true. Thank God I'm a guy, we just get to do the fun part"

"Anthony Michael DiNozzo, you better watch it, or we will never engage in that kind of activity again" she told him as she kicked him in the shoulder, causing him to fall back on the floor onto his back.

"Ouch Kate" he told her as she stepped over him to get to the door. Normally he would have grabbed her ankles and pulled her down with him. But now that she was pregnant they couldn't goof around like they used to. She had just opened the door when he said,

"C'mon Kate I was kidding around-"

SLAM

That was all Tony heard as she slammed the door before he couldn't finish his sentence. He quickly jumped up and ran after her, afraid that she would leave him at the Doctor's office. When he got to the waiting room the receptionist pointed at the door, indicating that Kate had left. Tony thanked her as he ran out the door and down the hallway. He spotted Kate as she stepped into the elevator and the doors shut before he could get there. So he ran down four flights of stairs to the parking garage and got to his car just as Kate had started the car. Luckily he opened the passenger door before she could lock him out.

"C'mon Kate, I'm sorry" Tony told her, trying to get her to look at him. She just ignored him, not saying anything and not looking at him.

"Kate please. I mean you know I respect you so much, especially having to give birth to four children...well now six. But seriously after you had Kayden, and especially Annie, I had a new respect for what mother's have to go through. I'm just so lucky that you are the mother of my children."

"Yeah and I'm wondering why I ever agreed to it"

"Because you think I'm sexy and funny, and more importantly sexy" Tony said with that charming smile, which Kate caught out of the corner of her eye.

"You are so full of yourself"

"I know, but admit it, it's why you love me"

"I doubt it DiNozzo" she said looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Seriously though, if I could do more for you I would, but unfortunately a guy wasn't meant to have to go through what you women do" he told her

"Yeah because you wouldn't be able to handle the pain" Kate said under her breath

"What was that babe?" he asked, even though he knew what she had said.

"Nothing I just said luckily you are there to help me with the pain" she told him with a sly smile. But instead of contradicting her he just smiled and nodded his head. He didn't want to piss her off anymore and he knew she was right about men not being able to handle having a baby, but he would never admit it anyone.

When they got home Jackie, their babysitter, informed them that Annie and Kaylee had gotten into some kind of fight, resulting in Kaylee getting pushed out of her room and into the wall, while Annie slammed the door to their bedroom and put something heavy in front of it so that no one could get in.

"Is Kaylee alright?" Kate asked concerned

"Yes she's fine, just a little upset" Jackie told her

"And you couldn't get her to tell you what happened?" Tony asked Jackie

"Nope, neither one will talk to me. Kaylee said she would only talk to mom or dad, and Annie wouldn't talk to me at all" Jackie answered him

"Okay thanks Jackie" Kate told her as Jackie grabbed her things to leave.

Tony looked at Kate as to ask her what she thought happened.

"I think I have an idea of what might be going on" Kate told Tony, before he could ask the question

"Well are you gonna fill me in" Tony asked sarcastically

"You know the kids have been acting up a lot lately"

"Uh yeah"

"I think it might be because we are having another baby. I think that they think we might forget about them once the baby is born and they're acting out to get our attention, even if it means they have to get into trouble to get it."

"But none of them ever did anything like this before" Tony stated

"Yeah but they were all too young to understand the true meaning of having another baby around"

"Kayden wasn't, I mean he was almost five when Anthony was born" said Tony

"And he's always been too sweet to cause many problems. But remember when he first found out about us having Anthony. He hid up in the attic and scared us to death, when we couldn't find him. We searched for a couple of hours and-"

"We called Gibbs and McGee to start a search party. Yeah I remember, because when I went up to the attic to get those big flashlights he was hiding behind those boxes. He's always been a good climber" Tony said with a small smile as he remembered that day nearly five and a half years ago.

_Flashback:_

_Tony and Kate had just gotten home from a Doctor's appointment with a picture of their new baby inside Kate's five month pregnant tummy. They rounded up the three kids they had so that they could show them the picture._

_Kate sat down on the couch, with a one and a half year old Kaylee on her lap, while Tony sat down beside her, a four year old Annie on his lap, and a four year old Kayden sitting between him and Kate._

"_So guys would you like to see a picture of your new baby brother or sister?" Kate asked_

_Kayden and Annie nodded their heads, so Kate showed them the ultrasound picture._

_Kayden and Annie both squinched up their faces and tilted their heads to the side._

"_That doesn't look like a baby" stated Kayden_

"_That's not a baby" Annie said agreeing with her brother._

_Kate and Tony both laughed at the two children, before Kate told them,_

"_This is what the baby looks like right now. It's not fully grown yet."_

"_Did we look like that?" asked Kayden curioulsy_

"_You sure did sport. All three of you did" Tony told them_

"_Well we weren't very pretty then. I don't like it" Annie commented seriously_

"_Oh honey, don't say that, you haven't even met the baby yet" Tony told his daughter._

"_Where did it come from?" Kayden asked_

"_What?" asked Tony slightly confused_

"_How did it get in mommy's tummy?" he questioned his parents, looking up at both of them_

_Tony and Kate looked at each other, slightly shocked. They weren't expecting that question for another ten years...okay maybe five._

"_Umm, well..." Tony began_

"_When...um...what your father's trying to say is..."_

"_When two people love each other-"_

"_TONY" Kate shrieked, thinking he was going to tell them the truth and add some details of his own._

"_God puts it there" he finished, smiling at Kate_

_Kate pursed her lips at him and shook her head._

"_How?" Annie asked, now equally interested_

"_When he sees how much two people love each other then he decides it would be good for them to have a baby." Tony told her_

"_And he puts it in there?" Kayden asked_

"_Yeah you could say so" Tony told his son with a smile_

"_Oh"_

"_That's silly" stated Annie with a laugh_

"_Well if you find a better answer, let me know" Tony told his daughter_

"_Is it going to be a boy or a girl?" asked Kayden_

"_We don't know sweetie" Kate told him_

"_What if it's a boy?" he asked_

"_Well then I guess we'll have another strapping baby boy" Tony told his only son_

"_Oh" Kayden answered quietly_

"_I guess you better watch out Kade, or you might not be your mom's handsome little man anymore" Tony told his son jokingly_

"_DiNozzo that's not funny, don't joke like that" Kate told him sternly_

_Then Tony and Kate started arguing, which mad Annie and Kayden both quietly exit the living room. Then a few moments later Kate and Tony quit arguing and they decided it was time to start dinner. So Tony took Kaylee from Kate and walked back towards the kids room while Kate went to start dinner._

_After Tony had put Kaylee in her playpen he went back to the kitchen to help Kate with dinner. Every five minutes or so he would walk back to the bedroom and check on Kaylee._

_Then around 5:30 dinner was ready so they went to round up the kids. But when they went into Kayden and Annie's room (they shared a room at the time) they couldn't find them. Then Tony found Annie in Kaylee's room playing._

"_Where's your brother?" he asked her_

"_Don't know"_

"_Wasn't he in her with you?"_

"_Nope"_

_When Tony told Kate she started getting really nervous_

"_Tony I've looked everywhere a four year old would hide and I can't find him"_

"_I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Let's look again"_

_So they split up and searched the house again, they even searched outside in the yard, but they couldn't find the boy anywhere. It had been almost forty five minutes, it was starting to get dark, and Kate was starting to freak out. So Tony called Gibbs and McGee and asked them if they would come over and help them look for Kayden, to which they of course agreed to._

_Within fifteen minutes Gibbs and McGee had arrived and they were going from house to house asking the neighbors if they had seen the boy. Tony had told Kate to stay at the house in case he showed up. Of course she put up a fight, so he allowed her to help search also. He took Kaylee with him and went one way down the street, while Kate took Annie with her and went the opposite way. Gibbs and McGee took the houses across the street._

_Before they even got to the end of the block it was completely dark. So they all headed back to the DiNozzo house to round up some flashlights. They found some small ones, but Tony remembered storing some of his bigger police issued flashlights up in the attic when they had moved here about a year ago._

_Their attic was inside the house, located in the laundry room, which had been added to the house before they bought it. There was a closet in the laundry room with shelves going all the way up to the ceiling. And the entrance to the attic was located in that closet and wasn't much. You had to get a ladder, climb up and push up the board that was covering the entrance to the attic. _

_Tony got the ladder out of the garage and then climbed up lifting the board out of the way, and poked his head up into the attic, carefully. He was always very cautious when he was in the attic, because there were always spiders, and if there was one thing he hated it was spiders. He would usually send Kate up there to get anything they needed, but since she was pregnant he didn't want her to get hurt. He carefully lifted himself into the attic when he heard a noise behind a couple of boxes. When he turned towards the sound he saw a light, which he thought to be a flashlight._

"_Who's there?" He squeaked out_

_Then he heard a whimpering sound, and that's when it hit him._

"_Kade is that you?" Tony asked gently, as he walked closer to the boxes. When he looked over them he saw Kayden sitting on the floor, his legs pulled into his chest. He was holding a flashlight in one hand and his blue blanket in the other hand. Tony smiled down at his son before going over and sitting down next to him._

"_Hey buddy, we were scared something happened to you" Tony told his son_

"_Why do you care. You'll probably get another little boy anyway" Kayden told his father sadly_

"_Hey it doesn't matter if we have a boy or a girl. You'll still be my first born son, my little boy, okay" said Tony_

_Kayden just shrugged his shoulders when Tony said that, so then Tony said,_

"_And no matter what you'll always be your mom's Little Man, and you will always, always be your sisters' big brother. And that's an important job to have, you know" he told his young son_

"_Why?" asked Kayden, showing interest_

"_Because you will be the one they will count on to protect them from anybody mean, especially boys. And when they get older you and I will be the ones who will decide who they can date, because we don't want anything to happen to them right. We want them to be with someone nice. So there is a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of fun being a big brother."_

"_Yeah I don't want them to ever get hurt" he told his father, the love and care for his sisters shining in the little boys hazil-brown eyes._

"_Well then you can't run away, because they need you. We all do, I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you. And your mom's going crazy down there" he told the boy_

"_Really?" Kayden asked, unsure_

_As if on cue Kate yelled from the bottom of the ladder,_

"_DiNozzo what's taking so long? Our son is missing, just grab the flashlights and come on, we're wasting time. Don't make me send Gibbs up there"_

"_Yikes we better go, huh" Tony said to his son with a smile_

"_Looks like your in trouble daddy" Kayden replied also with a smile_

"_Yeah yeah, come on" he said taking his son's hand and walking back over to the attic entrance._

_Tony stuck his head down through the opening looking down at a very angry and pregnant Kate. 'Oops one thing you never do, is piss off a pregnant woman, or they will let you have it' Tony said to himself. But he let out a smile and said,_

"_Hey babe, look what I found up here"_

"_Tony if it's not our son then I don't care" she told him angrily_

"_Well then you'll love this" he said as his head disappeared and in his place appeared Kayden._

"_Kate's eyes got wide as she asked,_

"_Kade are you okay?"_

"_Uh-huh" he answered as Tony lifted him down onto the ladder. When he got halfway down Kate grabbed him off the ladder and held on to him, as she began to cry a little. Kayden held onto her tightly as he whispered,_

"_Sorry mommy"_

_Kate then released her hold on him and leaned back a little, to look in his eyes._

"_Kayden Andrew DiNozzo don't you ever do anything like that again, do you understand"_

"_Yes mam" he answered sadly_

"_I love you so much baby. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you" she told him as she hugged him again._

"_I love you too mommy"_

_By then Tony had gotten down from the attic and Gibbs and McGee told them they were glad everything was okay, but that they should get back home. Tony and Kate walked them to the door, Kate still holding Kayden._

_After McGee and Gibbs had left Tony looked at Kate and noticed she was still holding Kayden._

"_Umm, sweetie, is it good for the baby, for you to be holding Kayden for that long?" he asked her_

"_Tony I've been pregnant three other times, and if I want to hold my son while I'm four months pregnant I'm going to hold him, okay" she told him annoyingly before turning and going into the living room and sitting down in a rocking chair with Kayden._

"_Okay then" Tony said, mainly to himself, before heading down the hall to Kaylee's room._

_As Kate was rocking Kayden they began talking about the baby and soon Kayden began to get excited about maybe getting a brother. He fell asleep in Kate's arms, so she carried him to bed, tucked him in, and kissed him goodnight._

"_Night Little Man" she said to him, before kissing a sleeping Annie goodnight as well._

_Then she went to Kaylee's room and found Tony asleep in the rocker, with Kaylee sound asleep in his arms. She kissed Tony on the forehead and he woke up._

"_I'm sorry I got angry at you earlier, I was just scared" she apologized_

"_I know" he replied, getting up and placing Kaylee in her crib. As they stood looking down at their baby girl Tony said,_

"_I can't believe we're having another one"_

"_I know, isn't it amazing" replied Kate_

"_I was actually thinking about how much money it was going to cost"_

"_Tony!" she said angrily, before pushing him and heading to their bedroom._

"_Kate I was just joking, wait" he said running after her_

_When they got to their bedroom Kate was on the verge of tears and Tony kept apologizing,_

"_I'm sorry babe, I was joking"_

"_No you weren't"_

"_Okay maybe I wasn't. But there's no way I'm not happy about this you know"_

_Kate turned to him with a confused look, "Does that even make sense DiNozzo"_

"_Look what I'm trying to say is that I'm happy about this baby. I know we talked about stopping after Kaylee, but I'm glad we are having this baby, and I think he's going to turn out great" he told her with a smile._

"_Oh, so you think it's a boy"_

"_Yeah I have a feeling"_

"_Well you had a feeling about Annie and Kaylee being boys as well" she told him with a smile_

"_Yeah but I was right about Kayden and after you were further along with Kaylee I changed my mind and said it was a girl, even though I wanted it to be a boy."_

"_It still counts as you saying she was going to be a boy"_

"_Still I was right about Kayden"_

"_Lucky guess"_

"_Well I can't imagine not having those girls, you know. And if this one's a girl too, I won't mind either. But I have to say, I still think this one's gonna be a boy." he told her_

"_Yeah and with my luck he'll turn out just like you" she responded_

Present:

Kate and Tony decided to each pick a girl and talk to her. So Tony went to talk to Kaylee, while Kate talked to Annie. Kate realized that Annie was still in her room and had the door shut so that no one could get in. She knocked on the door and Annie yelled,

"Go away"

"Sweetie it's me" Kate said

"Mom?" Annie responded from the other side of the door

"Yeah baby it's me" Kate told her, "Will you open the door so I can talk to you"

"You can talk to me from there" Annie told her

"You don't want me to come in and sit with you?" Kate asked her, but she didn't get an answer from the girl.

"Do you want to talk to me?" she asked ehr daughter, but still no response.

"Well I'm going to wait right here until you're ready" Kate said as she sat down on the floor and leaned her back up against Annie's bedroom door.

Meanwhile Tony found Kaylee in Anthony's room sitting on his bed while he was playing with some toys on the floor.

"Hey there guys" Tony said as he entered the room

"Hi daddy" Anthony said looking up at him with a smile

Tony returned the smile before kneeling down next to Anthony and saying,

"Hey Ace do you mind going and playing with Kayden so I can talk to your sister"

"But it's my room" he whined

"I know but I really need to talk to her"

"Then go somewhere else" he told his dad

"Anthony Colton, don't make me angry. You can come back in here when we are finished talking" he told his son sternly

"Fine" Anthony said angrily, as he threw his toy on the ground, got up, and stomped out of the bedroom. Tony couldn't help but chuckle to himself, Anthony could be so overly dramatic sometimes. Then he turned his attention to Kaylee, who was still sitting on Anthony's bed holding her stuffed dog.

"Hey baby girl, mind if I sit with you" he questioned as he walked over to her

She just shrugged her shoulders without looking at him, so he sat down next to her and before he could react she threw her arms around his neck and held on as she began to cry. Tony wrapped his arms around her, pulled her onto his lap, and began to rock her back and forth the way Kate would.

"Shhh, it's okay baby" he told her softly

In the meantime Kate still hadn't made any headway with Annie. A few minutes after she had sat down on the floor she heard stomping and turned her head towards the end of the hallway where she saw Anthony come stomping out of his room and towards her. As he got closer she asked,

"Hey Little-T, what's wrong?"

"Daddy's a meanie" he replied angrily as he kept walking past her and into the living room where the TV was.

She just shook her head at Anthony and smiled. Right after that Annie finally spoke to Kate,

"Are you mad at me?" she asked

"Well I'm disapointed in you for pushing your sister into the wall, and locking her out of her room" Kate told her, still leaning against the door.

"But it's my room too" stated Annie

"I know sweetie, that's why you have to share it"

"It's not fair, the boys don't have to share a room"

"Not right now, but they will soon"

"Because of the baby?" Annie questioned

"Yes because of the baby" answered Kate

Then it was quiet again and Kate asked,

"Annie do you think I could come in now?"

There was no reply but Kate did hear some noises in the bedroom that sounded like moving furniture. Then a few minutes later Annie opened the door, almost causing Kate to fall over.

Kate stood up and followed Annie back into the room, shutting the door behind her. Kate looked around and recognized immediately that Annie had somehow pushed her four drawer dresser in front of the door, because she could tell it hadn't been put back in the same place. She could still see the indention marks on the carpet of where it was supposed to be.

Kate watched as Annie sat down on her bed and looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry" she said softly

"Well you should be apologizing to your sister" Kate told her as she sat down across from Annie on Kaylee's bed.

"I know...I just..."

"What sweetie? What's bothering you?" Kate asked her

"I'm tired of sharing my stuff and my room"

"Honey that's part of having brothers and sisters" she told her daughter

"Not for Lucy. She has three sisters and a brother and they don't have to share their stuff"

"Uh-huh and what do her parents do?"

"I think they are doctors or surgeons or something like that"

"I see and her sisters and brother, how old are they?"

Annie looked at the floor and shrugged.

"Antimony Caitlin, tell me how old they are" Kate told her daughter

"Her oldest sisters are in college I think, and her other sister is sixteen and her brother is ten"

"Uh-huh, so the oldest two don't live with them anymore"

"No but they still have a big house" commented Annie

"I'm sure they do sweetie, but look on the bright side, one day you will be all grown up and you'll have a whole place to yourself" Kate told her daughter with a smile

"Mom that's gonna take forever" she whined

"Sweetie I'm sorry, but part of having brothers and sisters is sharing things"

"Well then I don't want anymore brothers or sisters" she told her mother seriously

"It's a little too late for that sweetheart" she told her daughter, "Besides I thought you were happy about the baby"

"I kinda was until you started talking about it all the time. You and daddy only talk about the baby now" she told her mother, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Oh baby I'm sorry" Kate said as she got up and moved across to sit next to Annie. She put her arm around her daughters shoulders and pulled her to her. Annie instinctively leaned into her mother's chest and wrapped her arms around Kate's waist. Kate rubbed Annie's back with one hand and her daughter close with the other.

"Did you think your dad and I were ignoring you?" Kate asked her

Annie just shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm sorry that we ignored you and we'll try to include you in making decisions about the baby, okay"

"Do you still love me?" she asked her mother

Kate smiled down at her daughter before replying,

"You bet I do, and unfortunately I will never stop loving you"

Meanwhile Tony had finally gotten Kaylee calmed down, so he asked her,

"What's wrong baby?"

Kaylee looked up at her dad and answered,

"Annie hates me"

"No she doesn't" Tony told his daughter

"She said she did. She said she wished she didn't have any brothers or sisters" Kaylee stated

"I'm sure she's just upset about something" he said, trying to reassure his youngest daughter.

Kaylee looked down at the floor, before getting down off of her fathers lap and walking over to the window. As she was looking outside she said,

"Annie said you and mom didn't love us anymore and that's why you are having another baby"

Tony was caught off guard with that remark and he was a little shocked that Annie would say or even think such a thing. He got up off of Anthony's bed and walked up behind Kaylee.

"Your mother and I love you very much, all of you. And we would never stop loving you just because we are having another baby"

Tony put his hand on Kaylee's head to get her attention, "Hey"

Kaylee turned around and looked up at her father with tears in her eyes. So he bent down and picked her up, holding onto her tightly. As her arms wrapped around his neck she said,

"Promise?"

"I promise" he whispered in her ear as he held her, "Let's go try and find your mother and sister"

So Tony walked out of Anthony's room, still holding Kaylee, and proceeded down the hall way to the girls room. When he got there he put his ear up against the door to see if he could hear anything. When he heard a giggle, he smiled to himself before knocking. As soon as he knocked he heard Kate say 'come in'. He opened the door and peeked inside, before stepping completely into the room, and he saw Kate and Annie sitting on the bed, both with smiles on their faces. So he walked into the room, Kaylee still in his arms.

"How's it going in here?" Tony asked, looking at Kate

"I think it's okay now" answered Kate

Tony nodded as he sat Kaylee down and walked over to Annie's bed where she and Kate were sitting. Annie got up as Tony sat down and she walked up to Kaylee and looked down at the floor before saying,

"I'm sorry Kaylee. I didn't mean what I said. I'm glad you're my sister. I just wish we didn't have to share a room"

"Uh-em" said Kate

"But I'm sorry"

Kaylee smiled and threw her arms around Annie, who hugged her back.

"I love you Annie" she told her sister as they hugged

"Love you too squirt" Annie replied

Tony and Kate both smiled at the interaction between their daughters as Kate laid her head on Tony's shoulder. Then a few seconds later Anthony poked his head into the room, his face wrinkled up like he was angry, and he asked,

"Are you done with my room now"

"Yes Ace" Tony told him

"Good" he replied as he stomped back to his room

Tony and Kate just looked at each other and laughed before Tony asked,

"So when should we tell them?"

"Tell us what?" asked Annie

"I guess now" Kate told Tony

"I'll get the boys and meet you in the living room" Tony told her

"Kay. Come on girls, to the living room" she said, ushering them out the door and to the living room couch.

Once Tony had gotten the boys into the living room and everyone was settled, Tony and Kate stood next to each other in front oof the children, holding hands. They looked at each other before Annie broke the silence and asked,

"So what's the news?"

"Well" began Tony, "You know your mom and I went to the Doctor to make sure everything was okay with her and the baby, right"

All of the kids nodded their heads, so Tony looked at Kate and she spoke up,

"When we were there we found out that we are not having just one baby, we're having two"

She looked around at her kids and then said again,

"We're having twins"

"There's gonna be two babies?" Kaylee questioned

"That's right baby girl" Tony answered, looking at his daughter

"I don't want the babies" stated Anthony seriously, as he crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch.

"Ace you don't mean that" said Tony

"Uh-huh" he replied

"Two babies are gonna be a lot noisier than one" Annie said, "Do we have to keep both of them"

"Yes sweetie we have to keep both of them" answered Kate

"I don't want to" Anthony said angrily as he got up and ran out of the room. Kate started to go after him but Tony stopped her.

"Let him go, I'll go see him in a minute"

"So what do you think?" Kate asked the kids in front of her

"I don't know yet" Annie answered, getting up and walking off, followed by Kaylee and Kayden.

Kate had been so preoccupied by the girls reactions earlier and to the new that she didn't notice how quiet Kayden had been during their discussion. It wasn't until Tony was trying to talk to Anthony a little later that night when everyone was in bed that she felt something wasn't right, something was bothering her. Then she realized she hadn't really talked to Kayden since she and Tony had gotten home from the Doctors office, and it was unusual for her and Kayden not to talk or interact for that long of a period. Then she thought back to the gamily discussion they had had that afternoon and she realized Kayden had never said anything. She tried to think back and remember his reaction and then she remember looking over at him one time and she thought he looked said, too said she now realized.

Kate immediately got out of bed and headed down the hall to Kayden's room. She knocked lightly on the door, before opening it and peering inside. She saw Kayden in bed, the covers pulled up around him and he was lying on his stomach, his head facing the wall that his bed was up against. She carefully walked up to his bed and heard a whimpering sound. She sat down on his bed and rubbed his back.

"Kayden I'm so sorry" Kate said to her son

He didn't answer but just laid there, but had stopped crying. Kate continued to rub his back as she turned on the bed so she could see him better.

"Oh sweetheart I'm sorry about earlier" she said again

This time he did reply,

"For what?"

"You know what for. I didn't even realize you were upset. I'm guessing about the baby"

This time Kayden rolled over onto his back so that he was looking up at his mother. She could tell that he had been crying and her heart ached for not noticing sooner.

"I'm not mad that you and dad are having more babies, I'm just sad" he told her

"Why?"

"Because you said that you'd still have time for me, but you don't" he said sadly

"I guess we just got caught up in the excitement of a new baby" she told her son

"I know, but now your having two babies and you definitely won't have time to spend with just me" he told his mother, the sadness evident in his voice.

Kate had to fight back the tears as he told her that.

"Sweetie I'm gonna make you a promise"

"Don't make it if you can't keep it" he told her and she couldn't help but smile.

"Tomorrow you and I are going to sit down and schedule a day, each week, that will be a day for just you and me to spend together" Kate told her son

Kayden looked at her and said,

"Mom you and me haven't spent hardly any time together the last couple months and you barely noticed me today. I mean it took you the rest of the afternoon, supper, and tonight before you realized I'd never said anything about the babies and that I was upset"

Kate's heart broken into pieces when he told her that, because it was true and she was ashamed that it had happened. Then she couldn't control herself anymore, she broke down crying, which scared Kayden because he knew his mother didn't cry unless she was truly, truly upset about something.

"I'm sorry mom, don't cry" he said sitting up

She looked into her sons hazil-brown eyes and then wrapped her arms around him, to which he wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her back.

"I'm so sorry Kade. I love you so much and it hurts to know that happened today" she told him

"I love you too mom" he told her

"Promise me Kade, that if something's bothering you, you'll tell me, no matter what. And promise me that if I'm not paying attention to you like I should, that you'll tell me"

"Mom-"

"Please Kade"

"I promise" he whispered in her ear

As Kate was hugging Kayden he asked,

"Will you lay with me until I fall asleep?"

"Sure sweetie"

With that Kayden laid back down and Kate laid down next to him. Within a few minutes they had both fallen asleep.

About fifteen minutes later Tony had given up trying to talk to Anthony. The boy just wouldn't listen to reason. So he gave up trying for the night and when he got back to his bedroom he noticed Kate wasn't there, so he went back down the hall to the kitchen, but she wasn't there either. Then he checked the living room and the girls' room, nothing. When he opened the door to Kayden's room he couldn't help but smile. He saw Kate sound asleep on her back, her arm around Kayden who had his head on her chest and his arm draped across her stomach.

'Duh this is the first place you should have looked' Tony told himself

He then walked into the room and took the blanket at the foot of Kayden's bed and covered Kate with it. Then he kissed Kayden on top of the head, followed by kissing Kate on her forehead.

"Love ya babe" he whispered before walking back over to the door and down the hall to his bedroom.

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm definitely a lot busier than I was when I wrote the other story, so I'm not going to make any promises on when the next chapter will be up. But just so you know I haven't even written it yet, so it will probably be a few weeks at the least. But please let me know what ya'll think about this next story. I already have an idea of what I want to do with it, but let me know if this chapter was any good, plllleeeeasssse review! Thanks! 


	2. Scared of Looking Back

1A/N: Hey everybody sorry it took me so long to update, but I've been really busy. I finally got this second chapter finished so here it is. Hope ya'll enjoy!

**Chapter Two: Scared of Looking Back**

It was the end of July and it was time to take the kids school shopping again. Tony always looked forward to that time because the kids would drive Kate crazy about not wanting to go back to school, but at the same time they would throw a fit about what kind of school supplies they wanted. Luckily they didn't have to shop for that many new clothes because they went to a private school, where they were required to wear uniforms. Kate was always uptight around this time because the kids drove her crazy, but at the same time she didn't want them to go back to school. She would usually come home from a shopping trip and yell at Tony for sboslutely nothing, which he realized made her incredibly sexy to him. Then after much arguing they would 'make up', which of course Tony enjoyed thoroughly.

However this year was a little different because Kate was four months pregnant and the Doctor ordered her to rest as much as possible, and to try and be stress free. So Tony had volunteered to take the kids school shopping even though Kate told him she would be fine to take them. But she lost the arguement and had to stay home while the rest of her family went on a trip to Wal-Mart.

But Kate didn't like to miss out on stuff and being the stubborn person that she is she followed Tony and the kids in Tony's sports car that he insisted he have three years ago. She watched as he hustled all the kids out of their SUV and into the store. Then she got out and went inside. She was standing at the end of the school supplies aisle watching Tony with the kids, when Kayden happened to turn around and see her.

"Mom" he yelled as he took the backpack he was holding and ran down the aisle to her.

Tony and the other kids looked up and saw her as well, so they headed towards her. When they finally got to her Kayden was telling her what stuff he wanted, including the backpack.

"Kate what are you doing here? You're supposed to be resting, with stress free activities" Tony stated

"You're kidding right?" Kate gave him one of her looks, "My kids are going back to school in two weeks, my daughter is turning nine a month from today, I'm pregnant with twins, and...oh yeah I'm turning forty in two and a half weeks. Yeah that's nothing to be stressed out about" she told him

"Look I just want you and the babies to be okay"

"We are, okay Tony, I'm fine they're fine" she told him, her voice rising slightly

"Okay, okay" he said throwing his hands up in the air.

As Kate walked back down the aisle with the kids, Tony stood there with a confused look on his face.

"Wait, Kate, how'd you get here?" he asked as he ran to catch up with them

Kate turned around and gave him one of her sneaky smiles.

"I don't know DiNozzo, how do you think I got here?" she asked him as she raised her eyebrows at him, before turning her attention back to the kids.

Tony stood there shocked, he now knew that she had taken his Corvette in order to get here, and he was speechless. He wanted to cry, but not in front of the kids. He also wanted to run out to the parking lot and inspect the car inch by inch, from front to back, but if he asked Kate for the keys she'd know he was freaked out. 'Oh screw it' he thought, 'She already knows I'm freaked out. That's probably why she did it.'

"Umm Kate, can I have the keys to the 'vette?"

"Why Tony? Don't you trust me with it?" she asked him, "I mean I trust you with my kids don't I?"

That was true, but techinically they were their kids, but the car was only his. Of course sometimes it might seem like he treated the car better than the kids.

"Of course I trust you baby. I don't trust other people, especially in a parking lot" he told her

"Mmhmm, I'm so sure that's it" she replied with a slight smile, "You're gonna stand there holding your breath until I give you the keys aren't you"

"Please Kate, "I'll be right back, I swear" he begged

She rolled her eyes before she took the keys out of her back pocket and tossed them to him, "Just try and make it back in here within reasonable time" she yelled as he took off, but she doubted that he heard anything, he took off so fast.

He was already outside by the time that he realized he had forgotten to ask Kate where she parked. So he pressed the panic button so that he could follow the sound of the arlarm. He found it right across from where he had parked the SUV.

He ran over to it and inspected it from the back to the front, running his hands across the red paint to check for ships or scratches. He knew that car like the back of his hand and he wanted to make sure that everything was in it's rightful place and that nothing bad had happened to it.

Once he was absolutely certain the 'vette was okay he went abck inside only to find Kate and the kids in the check out line. He hurried over to help her with the stuff and she just rolled her eyes at him before saying,

"I hope you found everything still in order"

"Of course. I never doubted you babe, only other people" he told her, although that wasn't entirely true.

"Yeah right" she replied, as she and the kids grabbed the bags and headed for the door.

After they had loaded all of the bags and the kids into the SUV, Kate turned to Tony,

"Can I have the keys"

He looked horrified when she asked that and she knew it was because he thought that she wanted the keys to the Corvette, which she didn't.

"The keys to the Navigator DiNozzo, not to the love of your life" she told him

"Oh right, I knew that" he smiled as he handed the keys over to her, "And sweetheart I don't love my car more than you"

"Yeah right, and I was a virgin when I married you" she joked, and he couldn't help but smile at her when she said that, and stepped closer to her and whispered in her ear,

"No you most definitely were not" as he kissed her neck.

"Okay Tony that's what got us here" she said pointing to her belly and then to the car at the four kids inside waiting.

"Right, but it was fun getting there" he told her with a smile as he wriggled his eyebrows.

"Go ahead babe, go have some fun with your car. Just make sure you're home for dinner" she told him

He got that huge excited DiNozzo grin on his face when she told him that and then jumped in the air. He poked his head into the SUV and said,

"Love ya kids, I'll see you at dinner"

Then he kissed Kate on the lips and said,

"You're the best wife in the world. Love ya babe"

As he ran towards his Corvette Kate couldn't help but laugh at his antics. He was like a little kid on Christmas morning, he was so excited.

Kate took the kids back home and helped the separate their belongings into different piles and then they put it all in their backpacks. While Tony was out cruising the streets, all of the kids wandered off to play while Kate sat down on the couch to relax.

A few minutes later Annie joined Kate on the couch.

"Hey baby"

"Have you got me a present yet?" Annie asked her mother.

Kate smiled and asked,

"Why do you want to know?"

Annie shrugged her shoulders.

"Well what do you want for your birthday?" Kate asked her daughter

"My own room" she answered matter of factly.

Kate just laughed and said,

"Sweetie we already talked about that"

"I know" she replied as she leaned into Kate

"Mom why are me and Kayden in the same grade if we have different birthdays. I mean we aren't twins, so I don't get it"

Kate let out a small giggle as she looked at her daughter. She always thought kids were so funny, all of the sudden out of the blue they would ask a question and you wouldn't be prepared for it and it would usually surprise you.

"Well you know that I had a lot of problems when I was pregnant with you"

"I remember you told me something about how you were in the hospital a lot"

"Yeah and a mommy usually has a baby when she's nine months along, but you came when I was only six months along"

"I was real sick when I was born, wasn't I?"

"Yes, and very, very tiny. I didn't even get to hold you until you were two months old. By then you were healthy enough to be picked up and moved around"

"Were you scared when you had me?" Annie asked curiously

"Yes, because I didn't want anything to happen to you" Kate answered as she wrapped her arm around her daughter to pull her even closer to her.

"Even though I'm not sure I want the babies I hope you'll be okay" Annie told her mother

"Don't worry sweetie, I'm sure everything will be okay" she told her daughter reasurringly.

Not two minutes later Tony walked through the front door with a huge smile on his face, causing Kate to smile as well. He walked over to his wife and daughter and said,

"There's my two beautiful lady's"

Annie giggled and Kate rolled her eyes as he said that. Then he bent down and kissed Annie on the top of the head before kissing Kate on the lips.

"And what are my two beauties doing?"

"Talking" Kate answered sarcastically

Tony narrowed his eyes slightly before looking over to his daughter for an answer.

"We were talking about when I was born" Annie told him

"Ahh" said Tony, "You know you're a very strong-willed kid. Even the Doctors commented on what a fighter you were"

"Really?"

"Yep. And I told them, yeah well she gets that strong-willed stubborn side from her mother" Tony told her with a smile

Annie laughed when her dad said that, and commented,

"So I am like mom"

"Yeah well that's about the only thing you inherited from her. I am proud to say you got your good looks and humor from me" Tony said proudly

Kate rolled her eyes again and Annie replied,

"You might be proud but I'm not"

Tony's face dropped at his daughter's comment and he gave her one of the looks that he usually gave Kate when she had a smart remark. But it did not good. Kate thought it was hilarious and high-fived Annie for her remark.

Tony just shook his head at the two of them and tried to suppress a smile.

"I think you need to stop hanging around your mother so much, she's a bad influence on you"

"Really, cause that's what she tells me about you" said Annie

"Oh, another one. You're on a role" Kate told her daughter

"I learn from the best" replied Annie

"That would be me" Tony said as Kate was still laughing

"Actually, I was going to say Uncle Gibbs" Annie finished

Tony and Kate both stopped and stared at their daughter. They both thought 'Damn she's good'

Annie watched her parents reactions and then said,

"Gotchya"

Tony and Kate both looked at each other before Kate turned and started tickling Annie, followed by Tony.

"Nooo" Annie laughed, "Stop"

Kate and Tony stopped and looked at their daughter before Tony said,

"Isn't it about time for you to get cleaned up for dinner"

So Annie gave her mom a hug and a kiss and said I love you before standing up and giving her dad a hug. But Tony reached down and picked her up, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you squirt"

"Love you too daddy" she replied before he sat her down and watched her run off down the hallway.

Tony then plopped down on the couch next to Kate. She turned to look at him, a smile on her face,

"So did you have fun?"

He looked at her and his facial expressions completely answered the question. It looked like he was about to explode with excitement.

"Oh my God Kate, it was awesome. I haven't felt a rush like that in awhile"

"Glad you enjoyed it"

Tony leaned over and kissed her cheek before saying,

"Thanks for letting me go and have a little fun"

"Yeah well don't expect it very often. We're parents, we aren't supposed to be having that kinda fun"

Tony paused before saying, "What do you mean 'we'"

His face went from confused to shocked as his mouth dropped open,

"You...You did it, didn't you. You took my car for a joy ride before you came to Wal-Mart"

Kate smiled as wide as she could before nodding and saying, "Yes...Yes I did. And I have to say it was quite exhilarating"

"Exhilarating? Who says that?" he asked her

"McGee said it the other day" she told him

"Okay, yeah, lets not go using McGee's vocabulary" Tony said

They sat there in silence for awhile before Tony spoke up again,

"So you and Annie were talking about when she was born?"

"Yeah, she was curious about how her and Kayden are in the same grade, but aren't twins" she told him with a smile

"Yeah, see I told you we should have waited another year before putting her in preschool" said Tony

"Babe she would have been the oldest one in her class"

"Yeah well now she's the youngest"

"Actually Tony, she's not. There are two other kids younger than her in her grade"

"Well still"

"Tony she just would have been at home with the sitter. Besides the way we did it, Kade and Ann both had each other to help them through their first day of school"

"I guess" he replied unsatisfied

"Is something else bothering you?" Kate asked

He shrugged his shoulders, but didn't answer.

"Sweetie, do I need to entice you with some cookies?" she asked with a giggle

"Okay first of all I'm not Hobie, and second I'm not one of the kids"

"Well you're kind of acting like a child"

"I'm just worried" he told her with sincerity

"About what?"

He looked at her like she was dumb, before saying,

"You remember how many problems you had with Annie's birth, and you were only thirty one. Now you're forty and pregnant with twins. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you or the babies"

"First of all, I'm not forty yet and-"

"Kate you will be in a couple of weeks" he told her

"Thanks for that DiNozzo" she said as she crossed her arms and pouted a little

"Oh, now who's acting like a child?" he teased her

"Shut-up"

"Kate you have nothing to be ashamed about. You're beautiful, and I bet people who don't know you would never guess you were turning forty in a couple weeks"

"Really?"

"Really, you don't look it at all"

Kate uncrossed her arms and smiled at Tony before leaning into him and laying her head on his shoulder. They were silent for a couple of minutes before Kate asked,

"You're thinking about Annie's birth, aren't you"

"Yeah" he said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly to him, like he was afraid of losing her, as they both thought back to that day almost exactly nine years ago.

_Flashback (9 years ago):_

_Kate had had some complications with her second pregnancy, and was admitted to the hospital in her fourth month. The Doctor had told her this was going to be a high risk pregnancy and it would be better if she just stayed in bed and rested for the next few months. Of course she didn't like to just lay around and do nothing, but she did it anyway._

_She stayed in bed while Tony went to work. Her sister in law Sarah offered to stay at the house with her while Tony was at work. So every day for the next two months Kate stayed in bed, for the most part, while Sarah watched over her and helped her to take care of Kayden._

_By the beginning of her sixth month the Doctor told Kate that she it would be okay if she moved around more, and that she didn't have to stay in bed all the time, which Kate thought was great._

_About a week later she called Tony at work to see if he would bring her some papers and a book out of her desk. He told her he had to go to Norfolk with McGee for the rest of the day, but he would bring it to her when he got back. So she decided to just go get them herself._

_She took Kayden with her and went to NCIS. As soon as she got off of the elevator and Gibbs saw her, he got angry._

"_I don't think so Kate, get back in that elevator and go home"_

"_Relax Gibbs, the Doctor said it was okay if I got out and about. Besides I just came to get some stuff out of my desk" she told him, "Here take Kayden" she said handing her six and a half month old son to him._

_She went and sat down at her desk for awhile, while Gibbs held and entertained Kayden. Meanwhile Abby had come up from the lab and was chatting with Kate. Gibbs then got a call from McGee telling him they didn't find anything useful. Then Gibbs' voice changed as he was talking to McGee on the phone._

"_McGee. McGee are you okay?" Gibbs yelled into his phone_

_Kate and Abby were immediately focused on Gibbs when they heard the tone of his voice._

"_Gibbs what is it?" asked Abby as she took Kayden from him._

"_Is Tony okay?" Kate asked nervously_

_Then Gibbs' conversation was cut off._

"_Gibbs why'd you hang up?" Kate asked_

"_I didn't McGee did"_

"_What happened?" asked Abby_

"_They're in the middle of a shootout"_

"_What?" Kate asked standing up_

"_Kate sit down" Gibbs ordered_

"_But-"_

"_No buts Agent Todd" he told her_

_But before she even had time to sit down, there was a sharp pain in her stomach._

"_Ow" she said aloud as she grabbed her stomach._

"_Kate" Abby said reaching out for her friend and helping her sit down, while still holding Kayden._

"_What's wrong?" Gibbs asked as he hurried over to them_

"_I don't know, it hurts" Kate said in pain, while holding her stomach_

"_C'mon let's get you to the hospital" Gibbs said, grabbing one side of her, while Abby helped with the other side, while also still trying to hold on to Kayden._

"_What about Tony and McGee?" she asked_

'_They'll have to wait Kate, I can't do anything for them right now" Gibbs told her_

"_And just...ow...what are you...owww...going to do for me" she asked through the pain as they slowly made it to the elevator._

"_Take you to the hospital" he answered_

"_Ohh no, Gibbs, you're driving will...owwww...put me into labor for sure" she told him_

"_She's kinda right Gibbs" Abby told her boss_

"_Well it's gonna take awhile for an ambulance to get here" he reminded both of them_

"_Okay never mind, let's go" Kate said as he knees buckled under the pain._

_Gibbs then reached for Kate and scooped her up in his arms._

"_What are you doing?" Kate asked in shock_

"_Getting you to the car as fast as I can"_

"_Will you call Tony. Make sure owww" she let out a long painful moan as the elevator doors closed with her, Gibbs, Abby, and Kayden inside._

_As soon as they arrived at the hospital Kate was wheeled into an exam room, while Gibbs and Abby waited in the waiting room. While Abby was trying to keep Kade entertained, Gibbs repeatedly tried calling Tony and McGee, with no avail. He was really starting to worry._

"_Gibbs do you think Kate and the baby are going to be alright?" Abby asked_

"_Of course Abbs, you know how stubborn Kate is, and if the baby is anything like her then they will both be fine"_

"_What about Tony and McGee?"_

"_Abbs I'm sure they're fine"_

"_Then why aren't-"_

_As if on cue Gibbs' phone rang and he saw that it was Tony, "DiNozzo what the hell are you doing. I've been calling-What? Are you okay? Okay well listen, Kate's in the hospital. I know. I don't know she was at the office and she just got these sharp pains in her stomach. Yeah, I know DiNozzo. She's been with the Dr's for about twenty minutes. Okay well hurry"_

_After he had hung up, he knew Abby was waiting for an answer._

"_Tony was grazed by a bullet, but him and McGee are fine and they're on their way back here"_

"_What do you mean grazed?"_

"_I don't know that's all he said, he was grazed in the arm" Gibbs said annoyingly, "Geeze what is taking the Dr. so long"_

"_Calm down Gibbs, you're making me nervous" Abby told him_

_Some fifteen minutes later a Dr finally came into the waiting room for them._

"_Is there a Mr. Todd here?"_

"_The last name is DiNozzo" Gibbs said getting up_

"_Excuse me"_

"_She and her husband's last name is DiNozzo. He's not here yet"_

"_Oh, well are you family?" the Dr asked him_

"_Yes we are" Abby answered as she stood up next to Gibbs._

"_Well she went into premature labor. Her OBGYN is in with her right now and we are making her as comfortable as possible"_

"_So she's going to have the baby today?" Gibbs asked_

"_Most likely. We are running some more tests to be sure the baby is still okay. If the tests show everything looks good then we will take her in for surgery"_

"_Surgery" Abby spoke up_

"_Yes. She's going to have to have a C-section because the baby isn't completely developed and she hasn't fully turned in the womb. The baby is still right side up, meaning it would be a breech birth, which is very dangerous, even if the baby was further developed"_

"_Wait while ago you said she, were you talking about the baby?" Abby asked_

"_Oh didn't you know?" the Dr asked_

"_No we didn't, they wanted to be surprised" Abby told him_

"_Okay, well let the nurse behind that desk know when Mr. DiNozzo gets here" he told them pointing down the hall to a desk/information area._

"_Okay" replied Gibbs_

_About an hour later Tony and McGee came running down the hall looking for them. Gibbs could tell Tony hadn't been treated for his gunshot because he just had a t-shirt wrapped around his arm and blood was still seeping through._

"_Gibbs thank God, where is she? Is she okay?" Tony asked quickly_

"_Calm down Tony. The Dr said to tell the nurse behind that desk when you got here" Gibbs told him, pointing at the desk just down the hall._

"_Okay" he responded taking off towards the desk._

"_Why didn't he get his arm treated before you drove all the way back here?" Gibbs asked McGee_

"_Boss if you got a call about you're wife being taken to the hospital with sever stomach pains when she was six months pregnant, would you wait to have your arm looked at, or would you go straight to the hospital she was at?" he said_

"_Yeah well I doubt they're going to let him into surgery with her now, since he's still bleeding" Gibbs stated_

"_Surgery?" questioned McGee_

"_Kate has to have a C-Section today" Abby told him_

"_But she's only six months along" McGee commented, slightly confused and worried at the same time._

"_Yeah well she's been having too many complications with her pregnancy, plus her water already broke. And the baby is a breech" Gibbs told him_

_They all looked over at Tony, who was being led into a different room than where they had taken Kate. And anyone could tell by the look on their three faces just how worried they were for Kate and the baby. This was something none of them could control. No matter where his agents were Gibbs could always keep them as safe as possible in certain situations, but this, this was nothing anyone could control, and there was nothing any of them could do but wait._

_The Dr had told Tony that Kate was already in the surgery room for the C-Section. And that the Dr probably already started the procedure. Tony wasn't allowed in because he was still bleeding and they didn't want to risk any infections or diseases into the clean air. The Dr told him that as soon as he had his arm cleaned and stitched up he would be allowed to go in and see Kate._

_About an hour later Tony came into the waiting room with a partial smile on his face._

"_I'm a daddy again" he told his friends and colleagues_

"_Aww, what's her name?" Abby asked_

"_Her? How'd you know it was a girl? Did I miss something?" McGee asked confused_

"_Yeah Abbs, how'd you know it was a girl?" asked Tony_

"_I'm gifted, no tell me is she okay? How's Kate?"_

_Tony just looked from her to Gibbs who had a small smile on his face._

"_The Dr let it slip that it was a baby girl" Gibbs told Tony_

"_Aww Gibbs, why'd you have to tell him that, I could have had the whole office going. Could've made some money telling people's futures" Abby pouted_

"_Tony c'mon what's her name and how's Kate?" McGee asked_

"_Kate's doing okay, considering. She actually lost a lot of blood, but she's resting right now"_

"_And the baby?" asked Abby_

"_Well she's not doing so good. She's really, really tiny and they said her heart having problems pumping enough oxygen to her brain, so they have her on a ventilator, inside an incubator, with a feeding tube"_

"_Oh my gosh, Tony" Abby said, walking over to hug him, while still holding Kayden, "Do they think she's going to be okay?"_

"_They said if she makes it through the night then that's a good sign, and if she makes it through the week then she is clear of the most dangerous stuff, but-"_

"_Tony I'm sure if she's anything like you and Kate she'll be stubborn and strong-willed and she'll be home before you know it" commented McGee_

"_Yeah. She's so helpless though. I mean she only weighs a little over one and a half pounds and Kate blames herself"_

"_It's not Kate's fault this pregnancy was so different than Kayden's" Abby said_

"_I know, but she thinks it's her fault that she went into labor so soon. But the Doctors told us that even if she wouldn't have gone up to the office she still would have gone into labor either today or tomorrow. They said it was probably better that she was at work with you guys because you were able to get her to the hospital right away. If she would have been home alone, who knows what could have happened"_

"_Has Kate been able to hold her or anything?" Abby asked_

"_No neither of us are allowed to hold her until she gets some strength and gains some weight. So who knows when we will get to hold her"_

"_I'm sure she'll be fine Tony. Ten years from no you'll be telling her the story of her birth and she was a miracle baby" McGee told him_

_Tony smiled and said, "I hope so Probie"_

"_DiNozzo are you going to tell us her name or keep us guessing?" questioned Gibbs_

_Tony smiled and said, "Well you know Kate got to name Kayden so it was my turn to name this one"_

"_Uh-oh" McGee said, "What car did you name her after?"_

"_Funny Probie. Her name is Antimony Caitlin DiNozzo. I liked it cause I thought it sounded close to Anthony. And I figured we might not be able to have any more kids after this birth. And even if we could, if we knew the same thing was possible we probably wouldn't have any more"_

"_It's a beautiful name Tony" Gibbs told him_

"_Yeah and you could call her Annie for short" Abby stated_

"_Yeah I know"_

_Annie made it through the first night and then the first week. The Doctors were all impressed with how well she was doing, although they were still concerned with her._

_Two weeks after Kate had given birth she was finally released from the hospital. But that didn't stop her from spending as much tim with Annie as possible. Gibbs gave Tony two weeks off which he spent with Annie and Kate. Now it was time for him to go back to work, which he wasn't very excited about._

_However when Annie was one month old Kate was sitting in the ICU for babies, next to Annie's incubator when all of the sudden the machine starting beeping. The Dr's came rushing in and blocked Kate's view of what was going on. Then a few minutes later after continuously yelling at the Dr's, one of them turned to her with a smile on his face._

"_Well Mrs DiNozzo you definitely have a little fighter here"_

"_Does that mean she's okay?"_

"_Yes. Actually she was trying to breathe on her own and was fighting against the machine. She's off the ventilator now, which is remarkable given her circumstances"_

"_Will we be able to take her home soon?" Kate asked_

"_We will just have to wait and see. She's still considered in critical condition. She still needs to gain some more weight to help her immune system, so that when she gets home she won't be as susceptible to diseases"_

"_Then I guess I can't bring her brother in here to meet her?" she asked_

"_We might be able to arrange something like that. Is he here?"_

"_Not yet, but my sister-in-law is on her way here with him"_

"_I think we can arrange for them to spend a few minutes together. Just let me know when they get here"_

"_Thank you Dr"_

_About an hour later tony finally got to the hospital after Kate had called and told him she had some good news about Annie. When he walked into the ICU he couldn't help but smile. Kate was sitting as close as she could to the incubator, holding Kayden. And Kate and Kayden's hands went through the opening into the incubator and Tony could see that Annie's little hand was wrapped around two of Kayden's fingers._

"_Look Tony" Kate said to him with a smile on her face, when she saw him come in._

"_I know" he said, walking over to them, "This is amazing"_

_Exactly one month later Tony and Kate were finally able to hold Annie, and then a couple of weeks after that they were able to take her home. They had a big welcome home party for her with all of Tony and Kate's family and friends, which of course included the people from NCIS._

Present:

As Tony and Kate sat on the couch together Tony kissed Kate on the top of the head and said,

"I love you so much"

"I know. I love you too"

Just then screaming came from down the hall, followed by barking, hissing, and a loud thud.

"Are you sure we want more of this" Tony asked jokingly

"Hey you're the one who got me this way" she told him as they got up to find out what mess their kids had gotten into this time.

* * *

A/N: Well there it is. Hope ya'll enjoyed it. Once again I haven't started the third chapter, so it may take awhile. Please review and let me know what ya'll think. Oh yeah, I already have picked out what sex the babies are going to be and what I their names are going to be, but just out of curiosity what do you think the sex and the names of the babies should be. Should they stick with the K's and A's, or branch out to something different. If you guess the right names that I have chosen, I might let you know! Thanks! 


	3. First Days

A/N: Wow this took me longer to update than I thought it would. My apologies, my older brother just got married two weeks ago and me and my family have been otherwise occupied with that. But everything is good now so here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy!

**Chapter Three: First Days**

It was August 13th, the day before the kids were going to start school, and the house was chaotic. Kayden and Annie were fighting over who was going to be more liked in the fourth grade, as if they didn't have most of the same friends. Kaylee was trying to convince a very upset Anthony that preschool was going to be fun. This was all going on while Kate was busy yelling at Tony because she felt like it, not because he actually did anything wrong.

"Sweetie can I do anything for you?" Tony asked sweetly, standing at the foot of their bed looking at his wife, who was lying on the bed trying to rest.

"Oh, well can we go back to six months ago and have these removed" she said angrily while pointing at her stomach.

"Baby-" he began but was immediately cut off.

"Ughh don't call me that, I'm old and fat" she told him

"Kate I think you are beautiful, even if you are a little bigger now than you were with the other kids" he said

"Oh so you think I'm fatter now than when I was pregnant with the other four"

"Honey that's a given, there's nothing wrong with that, I mean you're carrying twins so of course you're going to be a little bigger." he said with a smile

"Ughh you disgust me" she told him as she rolled her eyes

Before he could reply there was a squeal down the hall and not two seconds later Anthony came running into their room and jumped up on the bed, crawling up next to Kate.

"I feel sick mommy" he told her as he laid his head on her shoulder

"Me too baby" she told him as she kissed his newly buzzed head. Ever since he had busted his head open and had to have his head shaved, he decided he liked that look.

"Oh comeon Kate don't call him a baby. He's a big boy now. Aren't you Ace? Ready for your first day of school?" Tony asked

Anthony shook his head no and looked at his mom before asking,

"I'll always be your baby, right?"

"You bet Little-T"she answered, looking into his deep green eyes.

"Well you'll be a big brother soon. And you can't be a big brother if your still a baby" Tony told him.

Anthony immediately started crying, which he rarely did. Then Kate got angry and threw her bottle of water at Tony.

"Way to go do do head. Get out and go make sure our other kids are okay. Little-T and I don't feel good" she practically yelled at him

"Geeze fine" he yelled back as he slammed their bedroom door closed and walked down the hall to where more screaming was coming from, and found it emanated from Kayden's room.

"Hey, hey, guys, what's going on?" Tony asked as he walked in and found Kayden and Annie arguing.

"Annie says she has more friends than me" Kayden told his father, while staring down Annie.

"I do" she shot back with her arms crossed

"Umm guys, don't you have the same friends?" Tony questioned looking from one kid to the other.

"Some" they answered simultaneously

"Then why are you guys arguing about it?" he asked them

They both shrugged their shoulders but didn't answer.

"Is it maybe because you're nervous about going back to school?"

"We aren't scared of school dad. I think it's kinda fun" Kayden told him seriously

"Okay, but son do me a favor and don't admit to liking school once you get into junior high and high school" Tony told his son as he placed his hand on his shoulder and smiled

"Dad" Kayden said as he rolled his eyes in the same fashion as Kate

Tony shook his head and smiled before asking,

"Well if school isn't really the problem, then what' wrong?"

"I just don't want to go back to school. I like summertime" Annie answered

"Well what kid doesn't" commented Tony with a smile

"Mom's gonna be okay when we go back, right?" Annie asked

"Oh, is that what this is about? You won't be here all the time with her when she has her days off?" Tony asked his oldest children

"I just don't want anything to happen to her when no one is around" said Kayden

"Kiddo, what did I tell you. Everything's going to be okay. Besides she'll still be at work during the day for awhlie longer. So she'll be with me, and Uncle Gibbs, and Uncle McGee"

"But-"

"Hey your mom and I don't want you to worry okay. We want you to go to school and have fun, okay" he told them

Kayden and Annie both nodded before Tony gave them both a hug and told them it was time to get ready for bed.

He then proceeded across the hall to the girls' room where he found Kaylee playing with some of her toys on the floor.

"Hey baby girl, you ready for school tomorrow?" he asked as he sat down on her bed

She just shrugged her shoulders before looking up at him, and asking,

"Daddy will I always be your little girl?"

'Da ja Vu,' Tony thought to himself.

"Of course sweetie, why?"

"If mommy has another little girl then I won't be the baby girl anymore" she said as she looked up at her father.

"Well you'll always be my baby girl, okay. No matter how old you get" he told her as he held his arms out to her.

She immediately got up off the floor and walked over to him. He lifted her up on his lap and looked into her bright green eyes.

"Are you excited about being a big sister?" he asked her

She just shrugged her shoulders but didn't answer.

"Well you know when the babies get bigger you can boss them around" he told her

"Like Annie does to me?" she questioned

"Yeah like Annie does to you" he told her with a smile

"I tell Little-T what to do sometimes" she told her father matter of factly

"I bet you do squirt" he said as he began to tickle her and make her laugh

He pinned her down on her bed and tickled her more as she laughed,

"Daadddy" she screamed, "Stop"

He held his hands up in the air before kissing her on the forehead,

"Time to get ready for bed. Big day tomorrow" he told her as he got up

"Daddy are you going to school with us tomorrow?" she asked as she sat up on her bed

"Yes, your mom and I are both taking you guys" he answered

"Okay good" she told him with a smile

He then walked out of the girls' room and back down the hall to the Master Bedroom. He opened the door very cautiously, afraid another object might come flying his way. Luckily nothing was thrown at him as he came into the bedroom. He noticed Anthony was still snuggled up in bed with Kate so he said,

"Hey Ace time for bed. You got a big day tomorrow"

He recieved a death glare from Kate when he said that so he didn't say anything else when Anthony didn't move.

"Can I get you anything Kate?" he asked a bit sarcastically.

"Actually I would like some cookies n cream ice cream" she told him

"But honey you don't normally eat that kind"

"So, I'm fat anyways so I might as well eat what I'm craving, and that is what I'm craving" she told him

"But we don't have that kind" he replied

"Then I guess you're going to have to make a trip to the store" she said, slightly happy

Tony clenched his jaw together so as not to say anything he would regret and then took a deep breath before saying as nicely as he could,

"Of course honey, anything else you want from the store?"

"Mmm, make sure we have some peanut butter, and cookies. Ooo and while you're out would you pick me up a nice juicy burger"

"A hamburger? With meat and fat and stuff?" he questioned

"Uh duh DiNozzo" she told him as she rolled her eyes

"Okay babe. I'll be back later" he said as he turned to leave.

He returned some thirty minutes later and put all of the cold stuff in the freezer and refigerator. He headed down the hall to the master bedroom with the still warm hamburger only to find, when he opened the door, all four kids and Kate snuggled up together on the bed, sound asleep.

He had to smile at the five of them. Anthony and Kaylee were snuggled into both sides of Kate, Kayden was laying on the edge of the bed next to Anthony, and Annie was on the other edge of the bed next to Kaylee.

So Tony turned back around and went into the living room to watch some TV, while he ate the hamburger he had gotten Kate. He knew if she woke up and found out he had eaten it, she would be pissed, but he really didn't care. Even though they had had four other children Tony still couldn't get over how grumpy Kate would become during the pregnancy. Kayden's wasn't so bad because it was their first child and they were excited, but towards the end of the pregnancy Kate had decided she didn't want to be pregnant anymore and blamed her condition on Tony. And for some reason every pregnancy after that was accomadated with lots of anger, depression, and yelling. Tony loved Kate, a lot, more than anything, but for a pregnant woman, she could be very scary. He smiled to himself right before Hobie started barking. Tony got up and ran to the back door, where he found his son's German Shepherd waiting to be let in.

"Sorry boy, did Kade forget to let you back in?" Tony said, bending down and petting the dog.

Right after Hobie was let in he took off running down the hall and ran into Kayden's room. When he couldn't find the boy there he ran down the hall and nosed open the master bedroom door before Tony could stop him. As Tony ran down the hall after the dog, there was already screaming coming from his bedroom. When he walked into the room Hobie had Kayden pinned down on the bed and was licking his face, while everyone else was sitting up in the bed.

"Sorry" Tony said as he walked over to Hobie and pulled him off of his son.

"How long have you been back?" Kate asked him

"About twenty minutes"

"Where's my burger?"

"Ummm-"

"You ate it didn't you" she stated annoyed

"Honey you were asleep"

"Whatever"

"Okay kids, I think it's time for bed" Tony said motioning to the kids. All of the kids complied, getting up and kissing their mother goodnight before heading to their rooms. All of them except for Anthony, who stayed nuzzled into Kate.

"C'mon Ace, you too" Tony told him

"No I want to sleep here" he told his father

"Don't you want to sleep in your own bed tonight?"

He shook his head no and stayed next to Kate.

"You heard him Tony, he wants to sleep in here"stated Kate

"Okay Ace how about you and me go have a talk in the kitchen?"

Once again Anthony shook his head no, but didn't say anything.

Tony then sat down on the bed, somewhat close to Anthony and Kate and turned so that he could face both of them.

"Are you scared of going to school tomorrow Ace?" Tony asked looking at his youngest child, who seemed truly upset.

Anthony turned and looked his father in the eyes and Tony could tell there was something wrong. Anthony's eyes looked dark and sad, instead of bright and full of life, like his personality.

"Anthony I'm not going to be mad at you, just tell me the truth" Tony begged his son

Kate was now sitting up in bed, leaning against their headboard. Anthony was snuggled down next to her, with his head on her stomach.

"I don't want to go to school" stated Anthony

"Why not?"

Anthony just shrugged without answering.

"Well you were at the daycare part of the school last year, and I bet lots of the same kids will be in your pre-school class" Tony told him

"Sweetie why don't you want to go to school tomorrow?" Kate asked gently, joining the conversation.

"Kaylee said pre-school is for big boys, but I don't want to be a big boy" he said looking up at his mother

"You did a few months ago, why don't you want to be a big boy anymore?" Tony asked, not understanding

Anthony just shrugged her shoulders again, without saying anything.

"It's okay buddy, I promise I won't get mad at you" Tony told him gently

Anthony looked at his father before answering,

"Because if I go to pre-school then I won't be your little boy anymore cause I have to be a big boy"

Tony and Kate both smiled at their son before Tony scooted closer to him and Kate and said to Anthony,

"You know what Acce, you will always be my little boy, no matter how old you get, okay. So what do you say you stay a little boy until Kindergarten, then you can be a big boy"

"Really?" questioned Anthony, sitting up and looking at his father

"Yeah"

Anthony smiled that DiNozzo smile and then jumped into Tony's arms,

"I love you daddy"

"I love you too son"

Kate smiled at the two of them before saying,

"Okay well what do you say we all go to bed, cause it's late"

"Okay, night mom" Anthony said giving her a hug

"I thought you were going to sleep in here?" she asked

"No I'm gonna sleep in my bed" he told her proudly

She smiled as she watched him climb onto Tony's back and Tony gave him a piggy back ride back to his room.

The next morning came all too quickly for the kids, as well as Tony and Kate. But they all managed to get up and make it to school in time.

Kayden and Annie both told their parents they were old enough to walk themselves to their class. So after some hesitation on Kate's part, she and Tony agreed and gave them hugs goodbye in the parking lot and watched them walk away. Tony looked at Kate and could tell she was sad and he wondered if she was going to make it through the morning without breaking down.

Tony and Kate took Anthony and Kaylee by the hands and walked Kaylee to her classroom first, but before they even got to the classroom Kaylee was crying and holding onto to Tony's leg for dear life. And unfortunately Kaylee's crying upset Anthony, and he began crying as well.

"Hey, hey, Kaylee, it's okay baby girl. Your mom and I are going to be here to pick you up this afternoon and then we'll all go get some ice cream, kay" Tony said as he tried to unattach his six year old daughter from his leg.

"Nooo" she cried as she wrapped her legs and arms tighter around Tony's leg.

"Sweetie what's wrong, you weren't upset last night" Kate said, bending down and rubbing Kaylee's back, while Anthony was holding tightly to Kate's other hand and still crying.

"C'mon baby girl, aren't you excited about seeing your friends?" Tony asked trying to coax his youngest daughter.

She shook her head no and Kate knelt down in front of Tony and next to Kaylee and whispered in Kaylee's ear,

"Don't you want to be brave for Anthony? You told him last night there was nothing to be afraid of"

Kaylee slowly stopped crying, yet she was still sniffling and hiccupping, and her eyes and face were red from crying. Kate stayed next to Kaylee while Anthony was standing behind Kate with his arms wrapped tightly around her neck. Slowly Kaylee unwrapped herself from Tony's leg and stood up. She turned to Kate and threw her arms around her neck.

"I love you mommy" she whispered in Kate's ear

Kate smiled before replying, "I love you too sweetie"

Then Kaylee turned to Tony and he bent down to her level and looked in her eyes,

"You're growing up too fast squirt" he told her as he pulled her to him and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I love you daddy"

"I love you too baby girl"

"Do we still get to go for ice cream after school?" she asked him

"Yeah baby, we do" he told her as he stood back up.

"Bye mom, bye daddy, bye bye Ace" Kaylee said softly as she walked into her classroom.

Then Tony and Kate turned to walk back towards the preschool classroom. Anthony was walking between both his parents, holding both of their hands. The closer they got to the classroom the more Anthony slowed down and pulled his parents' hands to slow down, but they just dragged him along.

Once they got outside Anthony's classroom, he completely lost it.

"Mommy please don't make me" he cried, dropping his fathers hand and holding tightly to her hands with both of his little hands,

"I promise I'll be a good boy"

Kate bent down in front of him and looked into his deep green eyes,

"Sweetie we aren't mad at you" she told him

"Then don't make me go" he begged

"C'mon Ace, you'll have fun, I bet some of your friends from daycare are in there" Tony said

"Nooo" he cried tears streaming down his face

"Hey Little-T, look at me" Kate told her youngest child, "Just because you have to go to school, doesn't mean we are mad at you. You are still my little boy...my brave little boy, right?"

He slowly stopped crying, but continued to sniffle and hiccup just like Kaylee had,

"Yeah I'm brave" he choked out

"I knew you were" she told him with a smile, "And you know brave little boys go to school"

"But...hiccup...I don't want to" he told her

"I know sweetie. But after school we are all going to get ice cream"

"No" he told her still sniffling

"Look sweetie your dad and I have to go to work. We love you and we'll pick you up after school" Kate said standing back up and walking into the classroom with Anthony still attached to one of her hands.

"Mr and Mrs DiNozzo, nice to see you again" a lady said walking up to them

"Mrs. Rheghetti" Kate nodded at her

"Well I was thinking this was going to be the last DiNozzo I was going to teach, but I guess I was wrong, huh" Mrs. Rheghetti said referring to Kate's stomach

Kate smiled, but before she could answer, Tony had jumped in.

"Yeah, what can I say, she can't keep her hands off of me. I mean why else do you think we have so many kids"

"TONY" Kate said shocked

Mrs. Rheghetti just smiled at the two before bending down to Anthony's level.

"Your parents are funny" she told him with a smile

He grinned slightly and nodded.

"And what's your name Little Man" she asked

"It's Little-T not Little Man" Anthony told her matter of factly

Tony and Kate both smiled at his answer as Mrs Rheghetti looked up at his parents.

"Sorry that's his nickname. This is Anthony" Kate told her

"Oh wow, your named after your dad" she stated, "You must be proud"

Anthony nodded saying, "Uh-huh, I look like him too"

"I can see that" she told him

"You know I taught your brother and sisters too"

"Really"

"Yep"

"I'm going to be a big brother that's why my mom is fat" Anthony told her

"Okay well Ace your fat mom and I are going to get to work before she does something she'll regret" Tony said taking Kate's hand.

"Mommy you are going to come back and get me?" Anthony asked still holding her hand

"Of course Little-T and then we'll go for ice cream, okay"

He nodded his head and let go of her hand, turning and walking back to the teacher, talking to her again.

Tony and Kate stood outside of Anthony's classroom and watched as he went from talking to the teacher to playing with a little boy who was building stuff with blocks. Tony turned to leave and assumed that Kate was following him, but when he turned around she was still standing at the classroom door. He walked back over to her, put his hand on her back and said,

"Kate c'mon we got to get to work"

Instead of moving she stood still, watching her youngest child playing happily on the floor, oblivious to the fact that his parents had just left him there.

"My baby doesn't need me anymore" she said, without looking at Tony

"What?"

"Anthony is my baby, but look at him. He's not even upset anymore" Kate said, still watching her son through the door.

"Kate you know he's always been a little more independent that the other kids" Tony told her

"I know, but look, he doesn't even care that we left him there"

Tony looked at her and saw tears start to stream down her cheek.

"Baby-"

"No Tony, the other kids all threw a fit when they started school, remember. I mean Kayden and Annie wouldn't let go of us, don't you remember?" she questioned him

"I know"

"Now they don't even want me to walk them to their classroom" Kate said as she completely broke down in front of him.

"Baby all kids grow up, but that doesn't mean they don't need you" Tony told her as he put his arm around her, "And look on the bright side, soon you'll have two more who will most definitely need you"

"Yeah, maybe. Or by the time they're three they won't need me, just like Anthony"

"You don't know that"

Kate turned to Tony and cried into his chest as she realized how fast her kids were growing up.

"Hey aren't you happy that we didn't have to seem like mean parents and feel bad about leaving our crying children at school. I mean we should be happy that their first day went so well. Remember how bad we felt when we left Kaylee on her first day of preschool. I mean you and I both wanted to take her back home, just so she would stop crying"

Kate pushed away from Tony and looked into his eyes with anger,

"Are you saying I'm a bad parent because I want my kids to be a little sad that they have to leave me on their first day of school"

"No, no, that's not what I meant by it, I was trying to make you feel better" he told her

"Well your doing a sucky job"

"Kate" he said reaching out for her

"Do not touch me. Leave me alone" she said as she walked down the hallway towards the exit.

"Gotta love pregnant women and their mood swings" Tony said out loud, but to himself

"I heard that DiNozzo" she yelled down the hall, which slightly interrupted the classrooms.

Tony apologized to the class he was standing in front of, which happened to have its door open, and then ran to catch up with Kate.

When they arrived at NCIS they walked through the elevator doors right on time and headed to their desks. As they sat down Tony was still trying to get Kate to talk to him, but she continued to give him the silent treatment. Finally she was sick of listening to him so she got up and walked past McGee's desk saying,

"I'm going to see Abby"

She practically ran into Gibbs when she marched around the corner and he could tell she was upset. Instead of stopping at his desk he walked over to Tony's and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Ow, Boss, what was that for. I've only been here for five minutes" Tony whined

"I just passed your wife and I could tell she was upset and I'm sure it's because of you" Gibbs told him

"Actually it's just because she's pregnant and she has these mood swings" he turned to McGee, "Pregnant women, huh" he said with a laugh

He received another slap on the back of the head by Gibbs before he turned and went back to his desk.

"Oww Boss-"

"I don't want to hear it DiNozzo because if she's going to talk to Abby it's obvious that you did something" Gibbs remarked

While Kate was downstairs talking to Abby Tony was upstairs at his desk contemplating what to do to make Kate feel better. Gibbs had gone out for coffee, so it was just Tony and McGee at their desks. McGee looked over at Tony and saw him looking lost in his thoughts.

"You aren't hurting yourself over there, are you Tony?" McGee asked him

"What?" Tony responded, not looking at McGee

"Well you look like you are really concentrating over there and I wanted to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself in the process"

"McGee that better not have been you making fun of me. Because the only people allowed to do that are Gibbs and Kate"

"Why?"

"Because Kate is my wife and she packs a mean punch, and Gibbs...well is Gibbs" Tony told him

"Right"

"Ever think about having more kids?" Tony asked McGee

"Sometimes, but most of the time Abby and I are too busy keeping Piper out of trouble to consider having any more. Why?"

"Just curious. I wish there was a way to skip the whole nine months of torture on the husbands part" DiNozzo commented

"You aren't serious are you? Have you even thought about what women have to go through just to give birth to a baby. The least we could do is listen to them complain and allow them to throw things at us"

"Oh, is that what you did when Abby was pregnant, you just sat back while she called you every name under the sun"

"That's not what I said, I just said we should be more understanding to them" McGee said

"You really don't want any more kids, do you McGee?"

"Truthfully...Not really. I mean I love Piper and I am glad Abby and I have her, but I've seen the chaos in your family and I would just as soon not go through that" he told Tony

Before Tony could respond Kate came back around the corner and headed to her desk and sat down. Tony leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on his desk and just stared at her. Then he took a few paper clips out of his desk drawer and threw one at her, hitting her in the side of the head. Instead of lashing out at him she just ignored him, until he did it for a third time. Then she turned to face him and stood up, eyes slanted, anger written across her face.

"Hey there honey, what's wrong?" he asked, a cheap grin plastered on his face.

"Will you please grow up DiNozzo"

"Why?" he asked childishly while wriggling his eyebrows.

"Imbecile"

"What was that dear"

"Nothing" she muttered as she sat back down and turned her attention back to the computer.

But not five seconds later another paper clip landed on her desk. She spun her chair to face him, grabbed the cup of pens on her desk and threw the whole thing at him.

"Butt wipe" she yelled as she threw the container of pens at him.

As Tony ducked and tried to avoid being struck by the pens and cup he lost his balance in his chair and fell over backwards. Gibbs happened to come around the corner right after that and grabbed Kate as she was reaching for her gun.

"Uh-uh Kate, we talked about this. No family drama while at work. If you want to kill him when you get home then you have my permission" he told her

"Boss, what about me?" Tony whined as he got up from the floor

"It wouldn't be that difficult to replace you" before turning his back to him and allowing a smile to escape him. Then he went to his desk and pulled the file on top and opened it showing it to everyone.

"We've got a new case involving a naval officer who just returned to the states after being gone for twelve months. His wife woke up this morning and he was dead"

"Boss that would have been a few hours ago"commented McGee

"Well she called an ambulance and they told her he was still alive and took him to the hospital. That was around 8:30AM" Gibbs said filling them in.

"Okay, so where are we going?" questioned McGee

"DiNozzo, McGee, with me. We are going to the officers house to process the crime scene. Grab your stuff and lets go" Gibbs told them before turning to Kate's desk, "Kate you go to the hospital and talk to the Doctor about Tyler Bradley"

"But-"

"Agent Todd, do not argue with me" he told her as he stepped into the elevator along with McGee and Tony.

On the elevator ride down Tony looked at Gibbs,

"You know Boss, she's really going be mad at you"

"Well she'll have to get over, I am the Boss"

"I know but-"

Gibbs slapped Tony in the back of the head for the third time that day.

"Oww Boss, I'm not gonna have any brain cells left if you keep doing that"

"Who says you had any to begin with" he told Tony. Now DiNozzo if Kate has a problem with her assignment the I can always fire her. I believe she can fight her own battles."

"I know"

"Besides do you really want her to go to a crime scene where she could get hurt when she's six months pregnant"

"But Boss don't you think it was probably just a heart attack or something. I mean he wasn't shot or stabbed. How dangerous could it be" stated McGee

Tony and Gibbs both turned to look at McGee before Tony did the honors of slapping him on the back of the head.

"Probie you never say anything like that before you get to a crime scene" Tony told him angrily

"Why are you calling me Probie?"

"Because that's something a Probie would say. Haven't you learned anything the past eleven years?" said Tony

Once they arrived at Tyler Bradley's house Tony and McGee were at the back of the truck gathering up their gear while Gibbs went to talk to the police officer standing at the end of the driveway.

"Agent Gibbs, is the wife here?" Gibbs questioned the officer

"No, no one's been in the house yet. The wife is still at the hospital, so we thought we'd wait for you guys before we went in"

"So the place hasn't been cleared?"

"We didn't want to mess up any evidence that might of been left, even though it's highly unlikely that he was murdered"

By this time Tony and McGee were heading up the walkway to front door. Tony was in front of McGee still yelling at him for his earlier indiscretions. When they were halfway up the walkway Tony turned away from McGee and yelled at the officer at the front door.

"Hey are you going to open that door for us or just stand there until we get right in front of you with all our heavy gear" Tony said to the officer just as he and McGee were about to reach the front steps to the porch.

At that moment Gibbs turned towards McGee and Tony,

"DiNozzo" he yelled, just as the officer opened the front door and the house exploded, throwing Tony and McGee through the air. The force of it being so strong it even threw Gibbs and the other officer to the ground.

* * *

A/N: I tried to leave a bit of a cliffhanger, I don't know if it's much of one though. But please review and let me know what you think about this chapter. Thanks so much! 


	4. Blown Away

A/N: Okay so I was a little disapointed in the number of reviews for the last chapters, but thanks so much to those of you who did review, my loyal fans, you guys are awesome. Please remember to review again, I love to hear what you guys think :) !

**Chapter Four: Blown Away**

Gibbs got to his feet as soon as he regained himself and ran towards the sidewalk where Tony and McGee had landed.

"MCGEE, DINOZZO" he shouted as he knelt down beside Tony.

He immediately felt for a pulse on Tony and found that he had a very weak one. He then bent down so that he could see if Tony was breathing. He was but Gibbs knew it wasn't good when he heard an unstable shallow breathing. Then he moved to where McGee had landed and felt for a pulse, which thankfully he too had. He then called for an ambulance before bending down to check McGee's breathing. His breathing pattern was better than Tony's, but it still sounded a bit shallow.

"Hang on guys, help is on the way" he said to both of them

By that time the other officer who had been talking to Gibbs got up and ran to where Gibbs was.

"Are they okay?" the officer asked

"No, I called an ambulance and they're on their way. But I need something to help stop the bleeding"

"Oh my God, my partner" he said, turning to the house

"HEY, I need your help. There is nothing you can do for him, he's gone. Now get me some towels out of the back of that truck" ordered Gibbs

The officer ran to the truck and grabbed some towels, then ran back to where Gibbs was kneeling beside Tony. He took two of the towels and wrapped Tony's head in one. The other towel he used to apply pressure to Tony's stomach, which was bleeding profusely. He was afraid that one of Tony's lungs had been punctured by whatever hit him in the stomach, and that's why his breathing pattern was so off.

"Take the other towel and apply pressure to the worst wound on my other agent there" Gibbs ordered the officer

The officer complied and knelt down next to McGee, holding the towel to the side of McGee's head. But he noticed his arm in pretty bad shape, so he took the towel, took out his knife and cut the towel in half, using half for McGee's head and the other half for his arm.

A few minutes later the ambulances finally arrived and the paramedics took over.

"I think this on may have a punctured or collapsed lung, his breathing is very shallow and offbeat and his pulse is weakening" one paramedic told the others about Tony as they loaded him into one of the ambulances.

Gibbs climbed in after them and rode to the hospital with Tony, while the other police officer rode with McGee in the other ambulance.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile Kate was at the hospital interviewing Tyler Bradley's wife, Kathy. They were in the break room talking about the night before his so-called murder when Kate received a phone call from Gibbs.

"Gibbs I'm at the hospital interviewing Kathy Bradley, just like you told me to" she said into the phone, figuring he was calling to check up on her.

"Kate that's not why I'm calling. McGee and Tony are on their way to the hospital-"

"What? Why? Are they okay?" she asked in a panicked voice

"Kate I don't know any details we just pulled into the hospital parking lot"

"Which hospital?"

"The one your at" he told her before hanging up on her

Kate immediately ran out of the break room without a word to Kathy and ran to the elevator. She got in and pressed the down button waiting for the door to close. It seemed like it was taking forever for the doors to close and she lost her patience as she began to punch the door close button and kicking the side of the elevator before the doors finally closed. She was trying not to lose control of herself before she found out exactly what had happened. For all she knew Tony could just be getting stitches. But she knew Gibbs would never have called her if it was something minor like that. She could also tell by the tone of his voice that it was something serious.

She finally made it down to the main nurses station.

"Excuse me, my husband was just brought here, I need to know where they took him" Kate said to woman

"What's the name?" the nurse asked calmly

"Anthony DiNozzo, he's a Federal Agent. He was brought in with his partner"

"We don't have anyone by that name in the computer"

"I told you he just got here" Kate said harshly

"Well hang on let me phone down to the emergency room"

Kate tried her best to be patient with the nurse but she was really losing it and was about to say something when the nurse got off of the phone and turned to her.

"They just took him to surgery. If you go up to the fifth floor there's a waiting room and the Doctor will be there to see you as soon as he's out of surgery"

Kate nodded and went back to the elevator, getting in and pressing the fifth floor button. When she got off the elevator she saw Gibbs standing in the hallway.

"Gibbs" she yelled down the hall as she walked up to him

"Kate" he turned to face her, blood running down the side of his face, "I'm so sorry"

"What happened?" she asked nervously

"The house blew up"

"What"

"Tony and McGee were walking up the path to the house when the officer opened the front door and the house exploded"

"Oh my God" Kate said, her knees buckling beneath her. Gibbs caught her before she fell and helped her walk into the waiting room to sit down in a chair. He knelt down in front of her and looked her in the eyes.

"Kate he's going to be fine. We both know him. He won't give up"

Kate nodded but didn't say anything. Gibbs got up and sat down in the chair next to her. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Kate asked,

"How's McGee?"

"He's in surgery also. But I think he's going to be okay"

"Oh my God did you call Abby" Kate asked in a panicked voice as she got up from the chair.

"Yes, Kate calm down, Ducky is bringing her here. They should be here any minute" Gibbs told her as he grabbed her arm and tried to get her to sit back down.

But she just yanked her arm away and was fighting the urge to cry. She was not going to break down in front of Gibbs. She turned to him and saw he was still sitting down and asked what she had been wanting to ask since she saw him.

"How bad is it?"

"What?" he questioned, looking up at her

"How badly is Tony hurt?"

"I think you should wait for the Doctor-"

"Dammit Gibbs tell me, I have a right to know from you" she yelled at him

He looked up at her, "They think he punctured one of his lungs because he was having trouble breathing. He was losing a lot of blood Kate"

"Oh my God" she said turning away from him and letting a few tears fall.

A few minutes later Abby came running down the hall, followed by Ducky.

"Gibbs, Kate" Abby yelled as she ran

"Here Abby" Kate said composing herself as she stepped into the hall from the waiting room.

"Oh my God, are they alright?" Abby asked as she reached Kate.

By that time Gibbs was standing behind Kate.

"They're both in surgery. The Doctor said he'd come talk to us as soon as they could" he told her

"What happened Jethro?" questioned Ducky, obviously concerned for his young friends.

"The house was rigged to explode when the front door was opened. McGee and Tony were walking up the path to the front porch when the on duty police officer opened the front door and it exploded" Gibbs answered

"Oh my God...Gibbs...How bad is it?" Abby asked

"I don't know"

"Don't lie to me Gibbs" Abby told him angrily

"I don't know if anything was wrong with him internally, but he was losing quite a bit of blood from his arm" he told her

"Oh my gosh...Kate" she said turning to her friend. Kate embraced her in a tight hug.

"It's gonna be okay Abby. They're both going to be fine" Kate whispered in her ear. 'They have to be' she told herself.

They all sat around the waiting room for what seemed like hours, but when Kate looked at the clock, it had barely been an hour. That's when she thought about how badly she had treated Tony yesterday and today. He was trying so hard to be a great husband to her through her pregnancy and all she could do was yell at him. And he was being so great with the kids. The kids.

"Oh my gosh, the kids" she said out loud looking at the clock. It was almost time for them to get out of school and she and Tony had promised to take them to get ice cream.

"Kate do you want me to call someone" Gibbs offered

"No, I'll take care of it. I'm going to make a phone call, Ill be right back" she told everyone as she left the waiting room and walked down the hall.

She pulled out her cell phone and hit speed dial six, which was her sister in law Sarah. After three rings Sarah answered,

"Hello"

"Sarah" Kate choked out

"Kate is that you?"

"Yeah"

"What's wrong, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but Tony...he was hurt and...he's in surgery" she told Sarah as the tears began to flow more freely.

"Oh my gosh, sweetie, is everything-"

"I just need you to pick up the kids...If you don't mind"

"Okay no problem"

"Thanks" Kate said right before she was about to hang up.

"Oh and Sarah"

"Yeah"

"Tony and I were supposed to take the kids for ice cream today and-"

"Not a problem I'll take them"

"No, no, I don't want you to have to do that"

"Kate I don't mind, seriously. Don't worry about them"

"Okay...Oh and don't tell them what's wrong. Just tell them we got held up at work. I want to explain everything to them when I know more"

"Okay"

"Thanks Sarah"

"Sure"

After Kate had hung up she leaned against the wall and the end of the hall and began to really cry. She was so busy letting the tears fall that she didn't hear Abby approach her.

"Kate" Abby said softly as she touched Kate on the arm.

"Abby" Kate said, her hands immediately going to her face to wipe away the tears.

"Kate it's okay to cry. We don't have to be the strong ones, you know. I mean our husbands are in surgery and we don't even know how badly they're hurt"

"I know, but Abbs...I was so mean to Tony"

"I'm sure he understands you're under a lot of stress, with the babies and all"

"But what if he doesn't. I mean there's no excuse for me to treat him like crap"

"Kate he knows you. And he loves you so much, no matter what. You should know that by now."

"I know, but what if...What if he...dies, before-"

"Caitlin DiNozzo I don't want to hear you talk like that. Tony's going to be fine-they both are, right" she told Kate as she took her in her arms this time.

"I was so mean to him" Kate told her as she cried into Abby's shoulder

"It's okay" Abby whispered before she too broke down and they continued to cry into each other's shoulders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile:

Sarah was at the kids school gathering her two kids along with her four nieses and nephews. She spotted Kayden and Annie standing next to each other and walked up to them.

"Hey guys" Sarah said cheerfully

"Hi Aunt Sarah" Annie said

"So guess what?" she said to the two kids

"Mom and dad couldn't pick us up" Annie speculated sadly

"I'm sorry kiddo, they got held up at work. But I'm still going to take you guys for ice cream" she told them with a smile

"But mom and dad always pick us up on our first day of school, no matter what" Kayden told her

"Honey-"

"No, even if something comes up, one of them always gets us" he told his aunt

"Hi Aunt Sarah" Kaylee said as she and Anthony joined them

"Hey guys, guess what. I'm taking you to get ice cream"

"Where's mommy and daddy?" Anthony asked looking up at his aunt

"They couldn't get away from work sweetie"

"But mom promised she'd take us to get ice cream" said Anthony

"Well I'm going to take you instead buddy"

"I want daddy" he whined, "They promised"

"Anthony don't cry. I'm sure it must have been real important if they couldn't come get us" Kayden told his brother as he put his hand on Anthony's shoulder, "Besides, we still get ice cream"

"Mom's never lied before" Kaylee said looking up at her brother

"She didn't lie Kaylee, or at least she didn't mean to" he told her

"But she promised" she said as she looked down at the ground

Sarah bent down to look Kaylee in the eyes, "Sometimes sweetie no matter how hard we try, we have to break a promise if it's really important"

"Can we call her?" asked Annie

"We'll see. How about we go get some ice cream first" she said taking Anthony's hand

"Okay" Annie answered as they all headed to Sarah's mini van.

Sarah took all of the kids to an ice cream shop not far from their school. After they had all ordered what they wanted, the kids went and found a table to sit at while Sarah stood up by the counter waiting for their order. Kayden walked up to her and stood beside his aunt waiting for her to notice he was there, which wasn't long,

"Need something Kayden?" she asked without looking at him

"Just the truth" he answered looking up at her

She turned and looked down at the boy who shared so many characteristics of both Tony and Kate. The boy, who from the moment he was born, changed his father's outlook on life and children. And also the only member, besides Kate, who could read people like a book, and could sense when something was wrong.

"What do you mean sweetie?" she questioned

"Aunt Sarah I know I'm only nine and a half but I know when something's wrong. And there is definitely something wrong. No matter what happens our first day of school one of my parents always picks us up"

"Kayden-"

"Aunt Sarah I know mom and dad probably don't want us to worry, but it's too late. I want to know what's wrong" he told her, crossing his arms and staring up at her in a very Kate like fashion.

"Listen Kayden, I promised your mom that I would pick you up from school, take you to get ice cream, and take you home with me until she could come get you"

Kayden stood there staring at his aunt until it hit him.

"So something's wrong with dad?"

"What?"

"You said mom called you and she would pick us up, but you didn't say anything about dad" he stated

"Look Kayden don't go scaring your brother and sisters okay. I don't know what's wrong, but your mom said she'd call as soon as she could. That's all I know" she told her nephew as she put both of her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them gently.

Instead of responding he turned around and walked back over to the table where the rest of his family was and sat down with them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the hospital Abby and Kate had regained themselves enough to return to the waiting room. When they did they saw that Jen was now also there.

"How are you two doing?" Jen asked as she walked up to Abby and Kate

They both shrugged their shoulders before sitting down next to each other. They all sat in silence for quite awhile before Ducky looked over at Kate and saw that she had a smile on her face.

"Caitlin, dear, what are you thinking about?" he asked, causing everyone else to look at her.

She stopped smiling and looked around the room at everyone, who was now looking at her.

"I was just thinking about when I found out I was pregnant with Kayden" she told them, smiling again.

This time as she looked around at everyone she saw smiles spread across their faces as well.

_10 years ago:_

_Tony and Kate had been married for two months now. They had just gotten home from work on a hot mid-July day. They were living at Kate's apartment because it was smaller than Tony's and they decided they didn't need that much room since they weren't home very often anyway._

_They decided they were going to order some take out, so they both walked into the kitchen where they kept the take out menu's. Kate jumped up on the counter and sat there while Tony read off some different suggestions. All of the sudden while Kate was listening to Tony read the different types of food she got sick to her stomach. She jumped off of the counter and cupped her hand over her mouth as she ran to the bathroom._

_Tony ran after her and heard her in the bathroom. He knocked before opening the door and he saw her hunched over the toilet._

"_Babe, are you okay?" he asked as he knelt down behind her and rubbed her back._

"_I think so" she said as she leaned back against him_

"_Are you sure because you've been like this all week. Maybe you should go to the Doctor, I don't think it's just a bug anymore" he told her as he kissed the top of her head._

"_Tony I'm-"_ _before she even finished her sentence she threw up again._

_Tony got up and got her a cool washcloth and patted the back of her neck with it._

"_C'mon babe, let's get you to bed" he said bending down and picking her up in his arms._

_He took her into their bedroom and pulled back the covers before laying her down and covering her up._

"_Tony I'm fine, really" she said sitting up_

"_Kate I think you have a fever so just stay in bed while I go heat you up some soup" he told her as he walked out of their bedroom and to the kitchen._

_The next day Kate was still sick, so Tony called Gibbs and told him about her. He told Tony to make Kate stay home that day and rest, and to make her a Doctor's appointment._

_Two days later Tony took Kate to the Doctor where she was told she was pregnant._

"_What? Are you sure?" she asked, a little shocked_

"_Oh I'm positive Mrs. DiNozzo" he told her with a smile_

_Tony was also in the room with her and his jaw nearly hit the ground when the Doctor told them that._

"_But how did that happen?" Kate said out loud_

"_Well Kate when a man and woman love-"_ _began Tony_

"_Shut up DiNozzo. That's not what I meant" she snapped at him_

"_Okay geeze, just trying to lighten the mood" he told her_

"_How far along am I?" she asked looking back at the Doctor_

"_About six weeks"_

"_We've been back from our honeymoon for almost seven weeks" she stated_

"_Well it's possible you got pregnant on your honeymoon, or it could have happened right after you got back" the Doctor told her, "Well I'll leave you two alone, just don't be too long" he told them as he left the exam room._

_Tony turned to Kate with a smile on his face,_

"_We're going to be parents Katie"_

"_I know, God help us"_

"_What's that supposed to mean?" Tony questioned_

"_Well c'mon, we don't exactly have the best qualifications to be parents"_

"_Why do you say that?"_

"_Tony there are things you don't know about me. Things that nobody does. And you, you're a big kid yourself. You aren't that responsible and last time I checked you didn't even like kids"_

"_Just because I don't like them doesn't mean I don't want them"_

_Kate tilted her head and pursed her lips at Tony._

"_Okay so we haven't really talked about it, but no time like the present" he told her with a smile_

"_Tony-"_

"_No Kate, hear me out. You're right, I've never really liked kids. But it's because I've never really known how to interact with them. And my parents weren't really the parents of the year. I mean I went to boarding school pretty much my whole life. I always told myself if I didn't like kids then I wouldn't have to worry about having them, therefore I wouldn't have to worry about turning out to be a parent like the one I had"_

"_Tony-"_

"_Let me finish. When I fell in love with you I realized that if you ever gave me a chance_ _I would make sure it worked, because I knew you were someone I could spend the rest of my life with. But I also realized something else. I realized that I wanted to give you a family, I knew you always wanted a baby of your own, and I wanted you to have that. And the more I thought about it, the more it occured to me that I wanted that also. I wanted to have babies with you and I wanted to be a dad, the kind of dad that I always wished I had. And I still want that Kate, more than ever. I want to have a real family with you and I'm so excited that we are going to have a baby. Trust me" he told her_

_Kate didn't know what to say, so she just smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. As he wrapped his arms around her waist she whispered in his ear, "I love you"_

_He smiled into her neck as he replied, "I love you too"_

_When they got home Kate went straight to bed without a word to Tony. He walked into their bedroom and saw her curled up in a ball. He went and sat down on the bed beside her._

"_I need to get back to work" he told her_

"_Tell Gibbs I'll be in tomorrow"_

"_Kate I think-"_

"_And don't say anything to anybody" she told him sternly_

"_Okay babe" he replied as he bent over and kissed her on the cheek._

"_I love you, if you need anything just call" he said as he got up to leave_

"_Tony" she said as he was about to shut the bedroom door._

"_Yeah"_

"_I love you too" she told him_

_He smiled as he shut the door to their bedroom and headed back to work._

_Kate showed up for work the next day, feeling somewhat better. Tony begged her to stay at home for one more day, but she of course refused. They still hadn't discussed when they were going to tell their friends, but Kate decided they still had a couple months before she would start showing. She knew that once Gibbs found out he would put her on desk duty and she was definitely not ready for that, she hated desk duty._

_About one week later Tony and Kate still hadn't told anyone that they were having a baby. Kate had been doing her best to avoid Gibbs whenever she was feeling sick, and today was one of those days. Gibbs had thankfully gone out for coffee so Kate mad her way to the bathroom. After she had splashed some water on her face she headed down to Abby's lab. Abby saw Kate coming and noticed how pale she was._

"_Kate are you okay?"_

"_Yeah I think I just ate something that disagreed with me"_

"_It wasn't Tony was it" joked Abby_

"_Abbs"_

"_Right. You know I've noticed the past couple of weeks how some days you sneak off to the bathroom. And if I didn't know any better I'd say you were pregnant"_

"_What?" Kate asked, trying to act surprised, but Abby knew Kate too well._

"_Oh my God, you're pregnant aren't you" Abby said gleefully as she began to jump up and down clapping her hands._

"_Shhh Abby, keep it down" Kate told her, "Nobody knows, okay"_

"_Does Tony know?"_

"_Of course he knows" Kate said obviously_

"_So I can talk to him about it?" she asked_

"_No Abby, no mention of it at work, okay" Kate told her friend_

"_No mention of what Kate?" asked Gibbs as he entered the lab._

_Kate and Abby both looked at each other then back to Gibbs, before they answered simultaneously,_

"_Nothing"_

"_In that case, Kate we have a body in autopsy, let's go" he ordered as he turned around and headed back to the elevator followed by Kate._

_They got to autopsy, where Tony and McGee were already waiting. Tony made eye contact with Kate and he could tell she wasn't feeling well and he wondered if she was going to last five minutes down her, considering the smell._

_Ducky was telling Gibbs about the cause of death and the other thing he had found. But neither Kate nor Tony heard any of it. Tony was busy watching Kate to make sure she was going to make it through this, while Kate was concentrating on not throwing up._

_Then Tony saw it, she couldn't control it any longer. She cupped her hand over her mouth, turned and ran out of the room. Of course everyone noticed and turned their attention to Tony._

"_Oh dear, is Caitlin alright Anthony?" Ducky asked concerned_

"_I don't know... Boss can I?" asked Tony pointing in the direction Kate had gone._

"_Hurry up DiNozzo" Gibbs told him sternly_

_Tony found Kate in the women's restroom. He went in and found Kate in one of the stalls._

"_Kate"_

"_Tony you shouldn't be in here"_

"_Well that's too bad because I'm here and I'm not going anywhere" he told her as he got a paper towel, wetted it, and walked up behind Kate, before squatting down behind her. He then began to rub her back with one hand, while taking the damp paper towel and rubbing the back of her neck and her forehead._

"_What did Gibbs say?" she asked Tony_

"_He just told me to come check on you"_

"_He probably knows"_

"_Well then maybe we should just tell him" Tony suggested_

"_Abby knows" Kate told Tony as he helped her up_

"_I thought you said we couldn't tell anyone"_

"_I didn't tell her, she guessed"_

"_Well then, if she knows, then Gibbs probably does too" Tony said as he watched Kate walk over to the sink and wash her face and mouth._

"_How about we tell everyone tomorrow morning" she suggested_

"_Promise?" he questioned_

"_Promise"_

_Just as they left the bathroom and headed back to their desks, Gibbs and McGee were grabbing their gear._

"_Where the hell have you two been. We know who killed the gunny. Grab your gear and let's go" Gibbs ordered_

_Tony and Kate grabbed their stuff, ran to the elevator and squeezed in just before the doors shut._

"_Feeling better Kate" Gibbs asked her on the elvator ride down._

"_Yeah, I'm on this new medicine my Doctor prescribed and it tends to make me nautious" she lied_

"_I noticed"_

_Once they got to the house where the killer lived, they split up. Tony and McGee took the back of the house, while Gibbs and Kate took the front._

_Gibbs knocked on the front door, but recieved no answer. He knocked again as he and Kate pulled their guns out of their holsters, ready for what was going to happen next. However they were unprepared for what followed. Gunshots began ringing through the air, Gibbs and Kate both diving in opposite directions away from the front door as bullets ripped through it._

_Kate pulled herself up enough to look through the front window that was only a couple feet above her and she managed to spot two men with guns before one of the guys started shooting at her again, causing the glass to shatter, falling on her._

"_Kate stay down" yelled Gibbs_

"_I can distract them while you try and get inside" Kate said, while they noticed the gunshots were coming from the back of the house now as well_.

_Kate crawled along the porch back towards Gibbs and the front steps before she was about to get up and run to distract the shooters. Just as she was about to stand up, Gibbs grabbed her by the arm and jerked her back down beside him just as gunshots came at them again. Gibbs rolled on top of her to try and shield her as much as possible. When he knew the shooters attention had been turned again to the back of the house he rolled off of Kate and looked at her._

"_What the hell were you thinking Kate?" he yelled at her_

"_What the hell were you doing yanking me down" she shouted back_

"_I'm not going to let you put yourself at risk like that when you're pregnant" he shouted at her_

"_What? But-"_

"_How I know is not importnat right now. We need to take these guys down without getting killed or shot" he stated_

"_What if we all charge in at the same time" Kate suggested as she dialed Tony's number. He picked up after the first ring._

"_Kate you okay"_

"_Fine, we're going to charge on three" she told him_

_Gibbs had already positioned himself in front of Kate, ready to bust through the front door. Tony was in front of McGee in the back._

_They began to count to three simultaneously,_

"_One"_

"_Two"_

"_Three"_

_All four of them busting through the front and back door at the same time, catching the two shooters off gaurd. Gibbs made sure to stay in front of Kate at all times, before both shooters began to shoot again. Luckily Gibbs and Tony were ready and shot the shooters before of them got hurt._

_Once they had made sure the two men were indeed dead all four agents went outsied where their backup and paramedics had arrived. Tony ran over to Kate just to make sure she was okay. Besides some cuts from the flying glass earlier, she looked fine. Tony was just about to suggest she get checked out by the paramedics when Gibbs came stalking up to the two of them._

"_What the hell were you two thinking" he shouted at them_

"_Boss what-"_

"_DiNozzo were you planning on telling me your wife was pregant before or after she got shot in the line of duty" he yelled at him, causing everyone around the crime scene to turn their attention towards the yelling._

"_Gibbs it was my idea not to tell you" Kate told her boss_

"_Oh well that was just brilliant of you Agent Todd. You better be glad I'm observant or you could be in a body bag right now" he yelled_

_Tony immediately turned to Kate with a look of concern on his face._

"_You" he said pointing to Kate, "Go get checked out by the medics. And you" he said turning to Tony, "Get your ass inside and help McGee collect the evidence"_

_The trip back to NCIS was driven in silence. Once they got back to the office Gibbs sent both Tony and McGee down to the lab with the bullets from the shootout, so that Abby could make sure they matched that which was in the gunny._

_Kate sat at her desk praying that Tony would hurry back up so that she wouldn't have to sit there alone with Gibbs._

"_Kate" Gibbs said, turning in his chair to face her desk_

"_Yes" she answered, not making eye contact with him_

"_Why didn't you just tell me. You know I became suspicious last week and my suspicions were confirmed today when you got sick in autopsy"_

"_Then why did you take me to the suspects house?" she asked, turning to look at him_

"_I figured you would tell me if you knew you might be put in a dangerous situation"_

"_Yeah well, I wanted to prove to you that it wouldn't interfere with my job. I knew when you found out that you'd put me on desk duty, or force me to go on leave for six months"_

"_Well it's going to interfere with your job. It already has" he told her_

"_I know"_

"_Kate I'm not going to fire you or force you to take a leave of absence. Getting married and having kids is a part of life"_

"_I know but-"_

"_No buts Kate. I'm happy for you and I know you've always wanted a family. I don't want you putting yourself in danger just to prove to me you can still do the job. I know you can or I wouldn't have hired you"_

"_But-"_

"_Kate I want you to take care of yourself and the baby, so after it's born you can come back to work. Okay"_

"_Okay"_

"_Now that we have that settled, don't you ever pull that crap again, do you understand" he told her sternly_

"_Yes sir"_

"_Okay then. You are allowed to go out in the field only when I say and only when accompanied by Tony or myself. Then once you start showing you're on desk duty, got it" he told her in a more fatherly tone this time, instead of that Boss tone that he uses._

"_Okay"_

"_Good, now, how far along are you?"_

"_About six weeks. They baby is due in February"_

_Gibbs eyes widened as the reality hit him, "That's a long time away"_

_Kate smiled and nodded her head._

"_Well have you thought about any names?"_

_Kate shook her head as she answered,_

"_No, we haven't really talked about it"_

_Gibbs raised his eyebrows at her as well as giving her a half smile._

"_It's not like that Gibbs. We just haven't had time" Kate stated_

_Gibbs just nodded his head as he turned his attention back to his computer screen. Not a minute later Tony and McGee cam around the corner, Ducky and Abby in tow._

"_Caitlin dear, I just heard your wonderful news. Congratulations" Ducky told her happily as he gave her a hug._

"_Yeah, well I'm still not sure it's a good idea that Tony is procreating" said McGee_

_Abby and Kate let out a laugh, while Gibbs smiled at McGee's comment._

"_Better me than you Probie" countered Tony as he stood in front of Kate's desk._

"_Haha" said McGee_

"_Uh-em" Gibbs let out as he stood up from his desk, "I believe somebody still has a report to write" he said looking at McGee, "Everyone else make yourselves useful, you are still at work, not at a baby shower"_

_With that everyone dispersed in different directions. _

_That night while Tony and Kate were lying in bed Kate brought up baby names._

"_So Tony, have you thought about any names that you like?"_

"_Anthony is a good, strong_, _handsome name" he told her with a smile_

"_I had a feeling you were going to say that" she laughed, "And if it's a girl?"_

"_It's definitely a boy"_

"_Tony you can't possibly know that"_

"_Well I think it's going to be a boy. And I predict he's going to be just like me"_

"_God help us all if you're right"_

"_Hey"_

"_Seriously, what if it's a girl?"_

"_Hmm, I like the name Anita or Alanah or-"_

"_Tony" Kate laughed, "Are you going for an 'A' theme here"_

"_Maybe" he told her_

_Kate just rolled her eyes and laughed._

"_Well Katie, what names do you like?" he asked looking at her_

"_Let's see, if it's a girl I like the name Ava-"_

"_Ha, that's an A name" Tony told her, sitting up in bed excitedly_

"_Okay but you didn't let me finish" she told him sitting up next to him_

"_Okay continue" he told her, motioning with his hands to speed it up_

_Kate shook her head and smiled before adding some more names to the list._

"_I like Emma and Caydence also"_

"_Hmm" Tony said turning his head to the side and raising his eyebrows, "Caydence is a pretty name, kind of unique"_

"_Ah-huh"_

"_And if it's a boy?" he asked rubbing his hands together, "Because that's probably the name we will need to use"_

_Kate rolled her eyes once again as she thought,_

"_I like the names Lucas and Nathan"_

"_Mmm, so so" Tony told her rocking his hand back and forth._

"_Okay what about Caleb or Andrew?" she asked looking at Tony_

"_Hmm Andrew is definitely a strong name, Caleb's not bad"_

"_Matthew?"_

"_Mmm, not bad"_

"_Okay well we should each pick our three favorite names, for both sexes Tony, and then we can compare them and pick out which one we both like the best" she told him as she leaned over to her nightstand for a pen and pad._

"_Okay" he agreed as he reached for his pen and pad on his nightstand._

_They decided they would think about names for the rest of the week and then show each other what they had picked at the end of the week._

_During that week both of them discussed baby names at work with Abby and McGee, and Tony was caught by Gibbs when he was discussing baby names with McGee._

"_C'mon McGee don't you have any good suggestion. It needs to be something strong and handsome. I mean he is my son, so don't pick any names like Timothy" Tony said giving him the eye._

"_Tony Kate's only like two months pregnant and you don't know it's going to be a boy"_

"_I do so know Probie. Would you like to bet on it?" Tony asked, swinging his chair around, getting up, and walking up to the side of McGee's desk._

"_C'mon Probie, what do ya say? Twenty bucks says it's a boy"_

"_Fine" McGee gave in shaking Tony's hand._

"_Now give me some name selections" Tony told him picking up a pad and pen from McGee's desk._

"_What about Peter?"_

_Tony looked at him with a look of disappointment, "That's why it's a good thing I'm the one procreating"_

"_Then why did you ask me"_

"_Because it makes my names sound one hundred times better"_

"_What'd you pick?"_

"_You really want to know?" Tony questioned, but before McGee could reply Tony had started talking again._

"_Okay, well for boys, Anthony"_

"_That's a surprise" McGee said sarcastically_

"_Hey" Tony said pointing his pen at McGee, "It's my kid, not yours, so you can't judge me...Timmy"_

_McGee looked harshly at Tony before Tony continued, "Besides it's a good name"_

"_If you say so"_

"_Probie you're going to be wearing your lunch if you don't watch it"_

"_Please Tony, by all means, continue" McGee said sarcastically_

_Tony eyed him before continuing again,_

"_Andrew, and my final one, okay I couldn't decide between Bryce and Brayden"_

"_Gibbs" said McGee looking at Tony_

"_What? Probie are you insane I am not naming my kid Gibbs"_

"_No-"_

_Just then Tony got slapped in the back of the head._

"_This is not a baby name registry_. _The next person I catch talking about it will be fired. Got it" Gibbs told them_

"_Got it Boss" they both replied_

"_Boss I just want you_ _to know, I think your name is-"_

"_Shut up DiNozzo" Gibbs told him as he sat down at his desk._

"_Right" he said walking back over to his own desk._

_Without looking up from his desk Gibbs said,_

"_I don't think Kate's going to go for any of those names, but I like Andrew"_

_Tony smiled at McGee, a kind of 'I told you so' smile before sitting down at his desk._

_That night Kate and Tony sat in bed, both of them with a piece of paper with their three favorite girls names and boys names._

"_You first Tony"_

"_Fine. For boys I like Anthony, Andrew, and I couldn't decide bewteen Bryce or Brayden" he said looking at her_

"_Oh"_

"_What do you mean 'oh'?" he asked_

"_Nothing. I just figured we would have at least one common name"_

"_Well what were you three for boys?"_

"_Matthew, Lucas, and Bradley" she told him_

"_Well the only names I like out of those is Matthew" he told her blatantly_

"_See, we're never going to agree on anything" she said sadly_

"_Kate it's okay, I mean we still have seven months before we have to pick a name" he told her_

"_I know, but I don't want to stress out over names later, I want to do it now, so then we can worry about other stuff"_

"_Okay well, lets think of something we both agree on. Should we compare girls names?" he asked, looking hopefully at her_

"_Okay, I'll go first. I picked Ava, Caydence, and Grace" Kate told Tony_

"_Okay, good, I picked Alanah, Andrea, and Ava" he told her _

_Kate just laughed and said, "You and your 'A' theme"_

"_Hey we agreed on Ava. And you know, I really like Caydence also" he told her with a smile_

"_Hmm, Ava Caydence DiNozzo" Kate said out loud with a smile_

"_Or Caydence Ava DiNozzo" Tony said_

"_Well at least we agree on a girl's name" Kate stated_

"_Yeah, there's only one problem with that"_

"_What?"_

"_It's going to be a boy" he told her seriously_

"_Tony will get over yourself. You don't know that"_

"_Fine, don't believe me. But when Caydence turns out to be a boy, you're going to have to rethink that name"_

_Kate didn't respond to what Tony had said, so he turned to look at her and saw that she was deep in thought._

"_Yoo hoo, earth to Kate" he said as he waved his hand in front of her face._

"_Kayden" she said out loud_

"_What?" he questioned, slightly confused_

"_You said if it was boy I would have to rethink the name Caydence. So if it's a boy how about Kayden" she suggested_

"_Hmm, Kayden DiNozzo. Not bad. However I still think Anthony or Andrew DiNozzo sounds better"_

_Kate rolled her eyes and then looked intently at Tony._

"_What?" he questioned_

"_What if we play rock, paper, scissors. Whoever wins gets to pick the first name. The loser gets to pick the middle name"_

"_Why don't we just draw for it" he suggested_

"_Fine whatever" she said, getting excited_

"_No, rock, paper, scissors" he said changing his mind_

"_Fine"_

"_No-"_

"_DiNozzo make up your mind" she said annoyed_

"_Okay, okay, rock, paper, scissors" he said_

"_Okay, one, two, three" she said before they both went_

_They looked at each other, Kate had picked paper and Tony had picked rock._

"_Ha I win" Kate said jumping up and down on the bed_

"_I want a rematch" Tony whined_

"_Nope I won"_

"_But a rock should beat everything. I mean it can smush a piece of paper you know. It's ridiculous that in a real life situation a piece of paper would trump a rock, I mean c'mon"_

"_Tony it's a game. Besides I knew you were going to say something like that"_

"_What do you mean? You knew I would pick a rock?" he asked_

"_Duh DiNozzo. I figured you'd pick what you would think would be strongest" she told him before smiling again_

"_Well Katie that's like cheating, so I want a rematch of something different"_

"_It's not cheating just because I know you better than you know me"_

"_Kate"_

"_Tony"_

"_Kate"_

"_Fine"_

"_Okay lets draw for it. Short stick gets to pick the first name"_

"_Deal, but what are we going to use?" she asked looking around the room_

"_Ooo, I know" he yelled as he jumped up and ran out of the bedroom_

_Some five minutes later he came running back into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed, holding sticks of spaghetti._

"_Tony"_

"_What, it'll work. Look" he said as he showed her about ten sticks of spaghetti, all the same length. Then he took one piece and broke it, before sticking it back into the full length bunch. Then he mixed them up and stuck them in his hand._

"_Go ahead, pick one" he told Kate_

"_Question. What happens if neither of us draw the short piece?"_

"_We keep going, duh. Eventually one of us will get it" he told her sarcastically_

"_That's stupid. This isn't going to work" she stated as she drew one_

"_Ha, look I got the short one, I won again" she yelped happily_

"_What, no way. Not on the first try" Tony commented as he opened his hand and looked at the rest of the pieces, which all happened to be the same length._

"_Ha" Kate laughed as she stuck her tongue out at him_

"_C'mon Kate let's do it again"_

"_Nope, not gonna happen Tony. I won both times fair and square" she told him with a smile, "Besides, it's not like you don't have any say. You get to pick the middle name" she smirked_

"_This sucks" he pouted, crossing his arms, "And you cheated the first time, even if it was indirectly"_

"_Tony" Kate said sharply_

"_What, it's true. Can't we draw for it please. Just one more try and if you win then I swear we can name the kid whatever you want"_

"_And you won't complain about it?" she asked, eyeing him_

"_I promise" he said crossing his heart_

"_Fine"_

"_Cool, I'll get the cards" he said as he got up and jumped off the bed, running out of the bedroom._

_He came back in a few seconds later with a box of cards in hand. He jumped back up on the bed and sat down Indian style facing Kate._

"_Okay, you ready for this"_

"_You mean ready to kick your ass, again" she smiled_

"_Haha. You'll be eating those words in a minute when I win"_

"_Whatever Tony, just draw"_

"_Okay" he said as he cut the deck and then drew a card out of the deck. He flipped it over so that he and Kate could both see what he had drawn. It was a Jack of Spades, "Ha, beat that"_

"_Okay" she said as she cut the deck and then drew a card, flipping it over so that she and Tony could see what it was. It was a King of Diamonds, "Ha, told you I'd kick your ass again. I win. It's final, I get to pick the first name, with no complaints from you"_

"_This is so not fair" Tony pouted_

"_Ah ah, no complaining" she told him with a smile as she shook her finger at him_

_After Tony threw the cards on the night stand beside their bed, he leaned up against the headboard waiting for Kate to say something._

"_Okay so if it's a girl I'm sticking with Ava Caydence DiNozzo" Kate stated happily, "No wait, Caydence Ava DiNozzo"_

"_Umm Kate" Tony said interrupting her_

"_What"_

"_I get to pick the middle name, remember"_

"_Yeah, but I can't figure out which name I want as the first name"_

_Tony rolled his eyes before saying,_

"_We still have seven months left to decide"_

"_Okay well which would you rather-"_

"_Kate_"

"_What?"_

"_Relax. I like either or okay. At least we know we have a name if it's a girl, but it's going to be a boy so-"_

"_Tony will you stop saying that, geeze"_

"_Okay fine, but what name are you going to pick if it's a boy?"_

"_I don't know"_

"_Well since I'm picking the middle name, I'm gonna go with Andrew, because it's somewhat close to sounding like Anthony" he told her_

"_What? No Anthony" Kate said faking shock, with her hand over her heart_

"_Haha very funny" he told her, "I'm going to save Anthony for our next son"_

"_Oh right. First of all who said we are going to have more than one child. Second who said you were going to name it" she stated_

"_Okay well first of all we can talk later about how many children we are going to have. Secondly if we do decide to have any more, I think it's only fair that I get to name the next one. The first name anyways"_

_Kate looked at him long and hard for a few minutes before replying._

"_Fine, deal" as they shook on it_

"_Okay, so how about that name" Tony said, as Kate reached over to her night stand and turned off her light, laying down with her back to Tony._

"_Hey" he said again_

"_I haven't decided Tony, we have seven months left" she told him_

"_Funny Kate" he said as he leaned against the headboard trying to guess which name she would pick._

"_I think I'm going to go with Lucas Andrew DiNozzo" she told him_

"_Kate" Tony whined_

"_I'm kidding Tony, geeze" she told him as she closed her eyes to go to sleep_

_Tony looked at her, thinking she would say something else, but she didn't. After waiting a few more minutes he gave up. He reached over to his night stand and turned off his light before laying down on his back, his hands under the back of his head. A few minutes later he heard Kate,_

"_Kayden Andrew DiNozzo. For real"_

_Tony rolled over on his side and wrapped his arms around Kate and pulled her close, before kissing her neck._

"_I like it" he whispered in her ear, "And I love you"_

_She smiled as he told her that, before replying,_

"_I love you too, and Kayden sounds close to Caitlin" she told him with a laugh_

"_Funny Kate"_

"_Goodnight Tony"_

"_Night babe"_

Present Day:

"Well Tony was right about it being a boy. I had to pay him $20 for that" said McGee, "Of course he was wrong about it being like him. But then again he did end up with an Anthony exactly like him" he smiled

"Yeah, and Kayden definitely has some DiNozzo characteristics, he just has a lot of Todd characteristics also" Gibbs stated

"If you both liked the name Ava Caydence, why didn't you name Annie that?" Abby asked

Kate laughed before answering that question, "That's a whole new conversation, with a whole other story behind it"

They were all brought out of the past when the Doctor came into the waiting room. All of them immediately stood up, waiting to hear what the Doctor had to say.

"Who here is Mrs. DiNozzo?" asked the Doctor

"Me" answered Kate

"Your husband is in very critical condition right now. We have him stabilized at the moment, but he's lost a lot of blood" the Doctor told her, "I don't know if any of you have seen the news lately, but there's been a shortage of blood around the area. Do you know of anyone that is his blood type, because we need to give him some blood as soon as possible"

Kate looked horrified as she answered,

"The only person I know for sure has the same blood type as my husband is my nine year old son"

"That's not going to work. We need someone who will be able to donate a lot, and that it won't have a bad effect on them"

"Is he going to be alright?" asked Gibbs

"Right now it's touch and go. He has a punctured lung, that's preventing him from breathing correctly-"

"I thought you were in surgery to fix that" said Gibbs angrily

"Sir we-"

All of the sudden the nurses were yelling in the hallway for the Doctor. So without finishing his conversation, he took off out of the waiting room, running down to the doors marked Surgery Area, Access Restricted. Gibbs ran out into the hallway after the Doctor and heard a nurse yell code red, which Gibbs knew wasn't good. As he turned back to the waiting room he saw Kate grab her stomach in pain, so he ran towards her grabbing hold of her just as her knees began to buckle under her for the second time that day.

"Kate"

"Oww, it hurts. Sharp pains" she said clutching her stomach, "Something's wrong"

"Hang on Kate" Gibbs told her as he held her and helped her to the floor as Ducky ran out into the hall shouting for a Doctor.

* * *

A/N: Well there ya go, another cliffhanger. I couldn't resist. Hope you liked and I hope I get more reviews than I did for the last chapter. But thanks to those who reviewed, you guys are awesome, and you're what keep me going! 


	5. Finding Out the Truth

A/N: Hey guys I AM SO SORRYfor the long gap in between chapters. Hopefully now that summer is here I can get my chapters up a lot quicker because I won't be as busy. And I swear I had already wrote the majority of this chapter before the season finale of NCIS aired. But it's kind of ironic that Gibbs was hurt in an explosion, huh? Maybe I'm psychic! Just joking, anyways here's the next chapter in this series of stories.

**Chapter 5: Finding Out the Truth**

A Doctor finally made it to the waiting room to check on Kate and they ended up rushing her off to be examined, without telling Gibbs or anyone else what was going on.

"What the hell is wrong with this hospital. Don't they believe in telling the family what's going on?" Gibbs shouted

"Jethro you need to calm down" Ducky told him

"Calm down. You want me to calm down when I have all three of my Agents now admitted to the hospital without knowing what's wrong with any of them" he shouted, "I mean what kind of hospital is this"

Everyone was silent, afraid to say anything in front of Gibbs.

"What happened to Kate, Ducky?" Gibbs asked quietly

"I don't know Jethro. She could have gone into labor. Or she could be having some of complications due to stress"

"Could she lose the babies?" Gibbs asked looking at Ducky

"Yes" he answered

Gibbs shook his head before sitting down in a chair and burying his head in his hands. No one said anything else. They all just sat down and stared at each other, hoping for the best for all of their friends.

It seemed as if they had been waiting forever. Finally a Doctor came into the room and everyone immediately jumped out of their seats.

"Are you all here for Caitlin DiNozzo?" he asked looking around at the group

"Yes, how is she?" Gibbs asked

"Well she seems to have gotten too stressed out during her pregnancy and-"

"Are she and the babies going to be alright?" Gibbs questioned

"It's touch and go right now. When I was examining her she told me that this wasn't the first time that she had any sharp pains, but this was the first time it was this bad"

"She never mentioned anything" Gibbs said out loud

"I realize that, and that is very dangerous. We have to keep her heart rate and stress levels down. Because if she gets too excited over something she could go into premature labor. And with any birth that is dangerous, but it is extremely dangerous with twins"

"Can we see her?" Abby asked

"We are moving her to a more comfortable room and getting her hooked up to some monitors so that we can keep an eye on her and the babies heart rates. Once she is settled you can see her one at a time" the Doctor told them

"What about her husband, how's he?" Abby asked

"Her husband's here?" the Doctor questioned

"Anthony DiNozzo and Timothy McGee were admitted to this hospital this morning. We haven't heard anything" Gibbs told the Doctor

"Okay I'll get someone to check on them for you" he told them as he turned to leave

"Did any of you know that Kate had been having problems with her pregnancy?" Gibbs asked as he turned around to face everyone.

Everybody shook their heads no, but Gibbs continued to glare at them, especially Abby.

"Abby are you telling me the truth?"

"Gibbs I swear. You know if Kate were in any kind of danger I would tell you" she told him

"I know" he replied as he sat back down

About twenty minutes later a different doctor came into the waiting room.

"Are you all here for Anthony DiNozzo and Timothy McGee?" he asked, standing in the doorway

"Yes, how are they?" Abby asked jumping out of her chair.

"Well Mr. McGee is in stable condition, he lost a lot of blood from a deep gash in his left arm, which severed some nerves. We did surgery on his arm to repair the nerves the best we could. We won't know how much good that did until his arm is completely healed and he is able to start physical therapy"

"How long will that take?" asked Gibbs

"Anywhere from 4-10 weeks depending on his strength"

"What about Tony?" Abby asked, relieved that her husband, was for the most part, going to be okay.

"Mr DiNozzo is still in critical condition. He lost a lot of blood through his injury on his stomach. He had a punctured lung that must have happened when he was struck in the stomach. We repaired all of that the best we could. We have him on a ventilator to help him breathe, and we are positive that he has some type of concussion, but we won't know how bad that is until he wakes up"

"How long will that be?" Gibbs asked

"To be honest I don't know. All cases are different, but we found that when loved ones are close, talking to them, they seem to recover faster."

"Are you saying he's in a coma?" Abby asked

"No, he's just unconscious as far as we can tell"

"As far as you can tell. What the hell kind of response is that" Gibbs yelled at the doctor

"Jethro-" began Ducky

"Shut up Ducky" Gibbs yelled at him

"Listen Mr.-"

"It's Agent Gibbs, Doctor, and those two men are Federal Agents as well, and you better hope and pray that they pull out of this okoay"

"Agent Gibbs, Mr. DiN-...Agent DiNozzo's injuries are extensive and we've done just about everything possible to make him better, but there's nothing more we can do. Now it's his fight" the Doctor told everyone in the room

"Can we see them?" Abby asked the Doctor

"One at a time" he told them "Agent McGee is down the hall to your left, room 324. Agent DiNozzo is in the Intensive Care Unit"

Abby went in the direction of McGee's room, while Gibbs followed the Doctor to the Intensive Care Unit. Gibbs took a deep breath before entering Tony's room, but he still wasn't prepared for what he saw.

Tony was lying in the bed, machines hooked up to him everywhere with a tube down his throat to help him breathe. His head was completely bandaged up and there were cuts and bruises all over his face. As Gibbs looked down at Tony's chest, that's when he noticed the other tubes coming out of his chest area and draining into two containers under the bed. Gibbs looked carefully at the containers and noticed one was draining what looked to be fluid, most likely from his collapsed lung. But the other one looked to be draining blood.

Gibbs turned and marched out of the room and found the Doctor talking to one of the nurses. Gibbs walked up to him with an angry look on his face.

"What the hell is your problem" he yelled at the Doctor

"Excuse me, Agent Gibbs, calm-"

"Do not tell me to calm down. I have three Agents in the hospital. And you never said anything about Agent DiNozzo having internal bleeding" Gibbs yelled at him

"We have it under control, but that is why we were asking for anybody in the family who could donate blood, because he lost a lot and we need to replace it as quickly as we can to help him regain his strength" the Doctor told him

Gibbs nodded, "What's his blood type?"

"B positive, which isn't rare, it's just with the blood shortage it's made it more difficult to obtain blood"

"So what blood types can donate, besides B positive?" asked Gibbs

"B negative, O positive and O negative as long as his body accepts it"

"I'm O negative, let me donate" Gibbs told the Doctor

"Okay just let that nurse over there check you out to make sure everything is okay with your blood and if everything checks out then you can donate to him"

Gibbs nodded as the nurse led him into a room and drew some blood to test it. Once it had been tested, Gibbs was given the okay to donate. Once he finished donating he went back towards Tony's room and he saw Ducky coming out.

"Ducky"

"Jethro. I've been looking for you. Caitlin has been put into a new room and the Doctor said that one of us could go in and see her. We figured that it should be you" Ducky told him

"Where is she?"

"Room 413"

"She's on a different floor?" Gibbs questioned

"I believe she's in the neonatal ward"

"Okay I'm going to see her. How's McGee?" Gibbs asked as he headed out of ICU

"He looks better than Anthony, but he's still unconscious. Abigail and the Director are in with him now" Ducky told him as they both walked towards the elevators

Gibbs nodded as he got into the elevator. He got off on the fourth floor and headed down the hallway to room 413. When he went inside the room there was a doctor there who noticed him enter the room.

"I'm sorry are you family?" he asked Gibbs

Gibbs looked at Kate lying in the bed, hooked up to all kinds of monitors, but before he could answer, Kate opened her eyes and answered for him.

"Yes he's family" she said with a half smile

"Okay. Well she needs to stay as stress free as possible. So whatever you do don't say anything that will stress her out. I know she is a Federal Agent and I'm assuming you are too, so no discussing work" the doctor told Gibbs sternly

Gibbs nodded to the doctor as he left. Then Gibbs walked up to Kate and stood next to her bed.

"How are you doing?" he asked her

"Fine. How's Tony?" she asked

Gibbs gave her one of his looks, which told her to drop it, which of course she didn't.

"Gibbs I'm going to be just as stressed if you don't tell me, because I'll just lay here and fear the worst" she told him

She reached for Gibbs' hand and took it in her own, giving it a slight squeeze.

"Please" she asked him

He looked at her before telling her everything he knew.

"He has a concussion, a collapsed lung, broken ribs, a few burns, and some internal bleeding. But the doctor assured me that they have everything under control"

"But he's going to be alright?" she asked quietly

"Of course he is, he's DiNozzo" Gibbs told her, which made her smile

"How's McGee?"

"The doctor believes he's going to be okay. He has some broken ribs and a concussion as well. But their main concern is his arm" he told her

"Why?"

"It was cut pretty bad and it severed some nerves which they had to repair surgically, but they won't know if it did any good until he wakes up and tells the doctor if he can feel anything in his arm. And even then the final test will be when he starts physical therapy"

Kate closed her eyes and shook her head before asking,

"How's Abby holding up?"

"I haven't seen her in awhile, but Jen's in McGee's room with her"

"Good"

Kate looked back up at Gibbs and saw that he was staring at her in an almost angry/disappointed fatherly way, which he had become accustomed to doing the past few years.

"What?" she questioned

"Why didn't you tell me?" Gibbs asked her

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me Kate. Why didn't you tell me that you had been having problems with your pregnancy"

"I didn't know it was a major deal"

"Don't give me that" Gibbs said raising his voice

"Gibbs I swear. I didn't even tell Tony, okay. I mean I had a couple of sharp pains a few times, but I thought maybe I had just done a little too much. So I would lay down and rest and then it would go away" she told him

Kate looked up at Gibbs, who had his eyes closed, so she squeezed his hand again. He opened them, his blue eyes staring into her hazil-brown ones.

"You're going to be here for awhile Kate" he told her

"I know" she nodded, "But can't I go down and see Tony" she questioned Gibbs

He shook his head no as he watched her close her eyes tightly and he knew she was trying to hold back the tears. He carefully sat down beside her on the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him. It surprised him when she didn't fight him, but gave in, letting her head rest on his chest, before the tears started to fall.

"It's going to be okay Kate, everything's going to be okay" he told her as he held her and rubbed her back as she cried

He knew she was exhausted, emotionally and physically. He also knew that she and Tony had been fighting that morning and had never made up or even apologized. So he knew she was blaming herself and if anything did go wrong with Tony, she would never forgive herself.

Kate finally cried herself to sleep in Gibbs' arms. And a few minutes later Jen came into the room and smiled at Gibbs, who returned the smile.

"How's she doing?" Jen asked quietly

"Not too good, but she'll survive" he replied quietly as he carefully laid her back down in the bed.

Then he turned and ushered Jen out the door. They stood in the hall looking through the glass at Kate as she slept.

"How are Tony and McGee?" Gibbs asked

"The same" she answered, "Ducky is with Tony and Abby is still with Tim"

Gibbs nodded, still looking at Kate. Jen reached out and took Gibbs' hand in hers, which got him to turn and look at her.

"They're all going to be alright" she told him confidently

He nodded his head again as he turned and walked towards the elevator, pulling Jen with him, since they were still holding hands.

They took the elevator back down to the floor that Tony and McGee were on. They got off the elevator and walked down to the room that McGee was in. He opened the door and walked in. As soon as he had entered the room Abby flew into his arms.

"It's okay Abby. He's going to be alright" Gibbs told her as he held her. He felt Abby nod her head, then slowly pull away from him.

She looked up at him slowly,

"How's Tony and Kate?" she asked

"They're both okay, considering"

"You better not be lying to me Gibbs"

"Tony's in critical condition Abbs. There's nothing more they can do for him. It's his fight now" he told her

"And Kate?"

"Right now she and the babies are okay. They have her hooked up to some monitors to keep an eye on her and the babies heart rates. They told me she needed to stay as stress free as possible"

"Right. Like that's possible with all of her friends and her husband in the hospital. Sometimes I don't-"

"Abby...Calm down, okay" Gibbs told her as he rubbed her arms.

After Gibbs had comforted Abby, he left Jen with her and then headed back down to ICU to check on Tony again. After spending some time with him he got up to head back up to Kate's room, leaving Ducky alone with Tony again.

"Do me a favor Duck, don't talk him to death, okay" Gibbs said with a smile

"Jethro, that's not an appropriate joke"

"Who said I was joking" Gibbs said before leaving the room

When Gibbs got to Kate's room he found that she was still sleeping. So he pulled a chair up next to her bed and sat down in it. Not two minutes later Kate opened her eyes and looked up at Gibbs.

"Hey" he said with a smile

"Hey" she replied, "How's Tony"

"The same. Ducky's with him" Gibbs told her, "Don't worry I told him not to talk him to death"

Kate smiled, "Gibbs"

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine. They should just let me go home" Kate said as she sat up in her bed

"Well that's not gonna happen" he told her sternly, "Now since you're going to be here for awhile do I need to call someone?"

"I guess I need to call my sister-in-law and ask her to keep the kids for awhile"

"Don't you think they're going to want to come see you"

"I wasn't planning on telling them about me"

"Right. That should go over well, especially with Kayden" Gibbs remarked

"What am I supposed to tell them?"

"The truth Kate" he told her as he handed her his cell phone

Kate took the phone from him and dialed Sarah's number.

"Hello"

"Sarah, it's Kate"

"Kate, how's Tony?"

"Well I haven't actually gotten to see him"

"Why not?"

"I was admitted to the hospital as well-"

"What? Are you okay?"

"Sarah I'm fine. I just had some complications with the pregnancy and they want to keep me here for awhile to monitor me"

"You need me to keep the kids for awhile"

"If you don't mind"

"Not at all. Did you want me to bring them up there to see you. Because I don't think Kayden's going to believe anything else I tell him"

Kate smiled as she pictured her son standing his ground until he heard the truth.

"Yeah. Go ahead and bring them to the hospital. I'll have Gibbs meet you downstairs and bring you up to my room"

"Okay"

"Thanks Sarah"

"Anytime Katie"

"Bye"

Kate handed Gibbs his phone before smiling at him.

"You don't mind do you?" she asked

"Of course not. You know how I love to be volunteered for things" he told her

"It will probably take about twenty minutes for them to get here" she told him

He nodded.

"So not to pry or anything, but do you know what the sex of the babies are?" asked Gibbs

Kate smiled and shook her head.

"No, we argued about whether or not to find out"

"I'm guessing Tony wanted to know?"

"Actually no, it was me who wanted to know this time, he didn't"

"Really" Gibbs said surprised

Kate nodded, "Yeah, I told him I couldn't deal with anymore surprises and that we should find out the sex of the babies so we could pick two names and stick with them"

"Interesting. Well have you picked any names?"

Kate smiled again and nodded, "We've picked a couple. But we were trying to decide whether or not to stick with the A and K them or not"

"I see. And did you decide on that"

"No" Kate laughed

"Of course not. Well what names do you guys have picked out?"

"Remember how I told you guys what we were going to name Kayden if he would have been a girl"

"Ava or Caydence"

"Right, well Tony still likes the name Ava, as do I. But I also like the name Kylee"

"Okay what about boys names?"

"Well that's the thing. Tony swears we're having girls" Kate laughed, "Can you believe that. After he thought almost all of our other children were boys. Now he swears we are having girls. So we haven't really come up with boys names yet"

"That is pretty interesting" Gibbs smiled, "So what do you think the sex of the babies is?"

Kate raised one eyebrow as she looked at Gibbs with a sly smile, "Actually I think they're boys"

"Really"

"Yep. Just by judging the way they act in here" she smiled holding her belly, "But I could be wrong"

"Well so could Tony" stated Gibbs

Kate smiled as she looked at the clock, then back to Gibbs, "You should probably-"

"I know" he said as he got up out of the chair and headed out the door.

He met Sarah and the kids just as they were coming across the parking lot.

"Agent Gibbs" Sarah said with a nod

"Sarah, how are you?"

"That depends" she answered

"Where's my mom? I wanna see her" Kayden said as he kept walking past the two adults and down the hospital hall towards the elevator.

"How's daddy?" Annie asked as she looked up at Gibbs

Gibbs reached his hand out to the soon to be nine year old girl and she slipped her small hand into his as they all turned to follow Kayden to the elevator. Once they were all inside Gibbs looked down at the four children.

"Okay kids, listen up. I'm taking you to see your mom, okay. Now she's doing okay she's just hooked up to some machines so the doctors can watch her and the babies better"

"What about dad, can we see him?" Kayden asked

Gibbs shook his head, "Sorry Kade. Only adults are allowed into your dads room"

Kayden rolled his eyes at Gibbs, but Gibbs said nothing to him.

They got off of the elevator on the fourth floor and Gibbs led everyone down the hall, still holding onto Annie's hand as they came to Kate's room. Kayden immediately flung the door open and ran over to his mom. But instead of jumping up on the bed with her, like he had planned, he stopped as soon as he got to the side of her bed.

Kate heard all of the commotion and opened her eyes to look right at Kayden.

"Hey handsome" she said

Before he could reply, the other kids came filing in and Anthony climbed right up the side of the bed and laid down next to his mom. Gibbs lifted Kaylee up on the other side of Kate so she could sit next to her mom.

"Hey there Little-T" she said as she kissed the top of Anthony's head

Then she turned to Kaylee, "Hi Princess"

"Hi mommy" she said, "Can I hug you?"

"I would love a hug sweetheart" Kate told her daughter as she stretched her arms out and Kaylee reached her arms out, wrapping them around her mother's neck.

"What's this mommy?" Anthony asked, holding two sets of wires in his hand that ran from a machine and attached to Kate's stomach.

"Those wires stick to my tummy. That way the doctor can keep an eye on me" she told her four year old son

"Are the babies okay mom?" asked Annie as she stood next to Kayden, beside the bed.

"Yeah, they're okay" she told her daughter

"Then why can't you come home?" she asked

"Well the doctors just want to make sure they're okay. So I'm going to stay here for awhile"

"What about daddy?" Anthony asked as he laid next to his mother, still rolling the wires around in his hand.

"Daddy's going to be here for awhile. But don't worry because the doctors here are taking very good care of him"

"Is he gonna die?" he asked

"What?" Kate asked, caught off gaurd by her youngest son's question.

"Tyler's daddy died when he was two" stated Anthony

"Who's Tyler?" Kate asked

"The boy with the spider man backpack" he told his mom

"A boy in your class?" asked Kate

"Duh" Anthony answered with a giggle

"Anthony's been talking a lot about Tyler" Sarah said with a smile

"So you made a friend?" Kate asked her youngest

Anthony just shrugged his shoulders.

"Well what about the rest of you? How was your first day?" Kate asked looking around at her other three children

"Mom we don't want to talk about school" said Annie

"That just cause you got into trouble and it was only the first day" Kayden said to his sister

"Shut up" she told him

"Guys calm down" Kate told her two oldest children. Then she turned her attention to Annie, "Sweetie is that true?"

"What?" she asked, pretending she had no idea what her mother meant

"Annie"

"Mom" said Annie with that huge DiNozzo smile, "I didn't do it on purpose" she said as she batted her eyelashes at her mother.

Kate couldn't help but smile. She was definitely her father's daughter.

"You didn't do what?" Kate asked

"She released the mice from the science cage" said Kayden with a smile, before his sister could have time to answer.

"What?" said Kate

"I like to think of it as freeing them from the cages of experimentation" Annie said

Kate looked at her daughter slightly shocked, not from her freeing the mice, but from her vocabulary as she explained why she had done it. As Kate looked around she saw Sarah smiling and Gibbs biting back a smile at Annie's comment along with the mental picture of mice running free through a classroom full of nine and ten year olds. Kate burst out laughing both from the mental picture and Annie's comment.

"That's it Annie, I think you've seen the Secret of Nimh way to many times. And I think you need to start hanging out with you sister more, because it's obvious to me that you and Kade have been hanging out a little too much" said Kate through laughter

"Actually I watched a lot of X-Files reruns over the summer and learned a lot of new words" Annie told her mother

Kate continued to smile and shake her head at her oldest daughter. Then she turned to Kaylee who was still sitting beside her on the bed.

"And what about you baby? How was school?" she asked her youngest daughter.

Kaylee just shrugged her shoulders as she looked at her mom.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" Kate asked

Once again Kaylee just shrugged her shoulders.

"Baby" Kate said as she reached her hand out to stroke Kaylee's long dark hair with her fingers.

"I don't want you and daddy to die" she told her mom as she began to cry

"Oh sweetie" said Kate as she pulled Kaylee to her and laid down on the bed beside her as she rubbed her back and carefully rocked her from side to side, "Your daddy and I are not going to die"

"But-"

"Shhh...No buts young lady...Your dad and I are going to be fine" Kate told her youngest daughter as she continued to rub her back.

Kate continued to lay in her hospital bed, Kaylee on one side of her and Anthony on the other, while Kayden and Annie remained standing next to each other beside the bed. A few minutes later Kate's doctor came into the room to check on her.

"Excuse me, didn't I tell you only one visitor at a time" the Doctor said looking from Kate to Gibbs

"Well I think an exception can be made for her family" replied Gibbs

"Visiting hours are over. So I suggest you begin your goodbyes now so this patient can get some rest" the Doctor told everyone in the room

"I thought you said your Doctor was nice" remarked Annie

"Annie" said Kate as she looked sternly at her daughter

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes to check on you. And there better only be one visitor left in this room finishing their goodbye" the Doctor said as he turned to leave the room

"Alright guys you heard the Doctor. Let's say your goodbyes because it's getting late, and we still need to stop by your house to feed the animals and get you some clothes" Sarah said to the kids

"But I-" began Annie

"Annie, do what your aunt says" Kate told her daughter

"Fine" she pouted

"I'm glad your okay Kate. I'll just wait in the hall for the kids" she said as she and Gibbs stepped out of the room

"Okay guys you behave your Aunt Sarah and Uncle Chris, okay. And before you know it your dad and I will be back home" Kate told her kids

"I love you mommy" Kaylee said as she gave Kate a kiss on the cheek and wrapped her arms around her neck

"I love you too sweetheart" she told her daughter as she returned the hug, "I love all you kids"

"Love you too mom" Anthony and Annie said in unison

As Kate let go of Kaylee she reached for Anthony, stealing a hug and a kiss before he could pull away. Then she stretched her arms out to Annie, who immediately entered her mothers embrace.

"Try to stay out of trouble tomorrow, okay" she told her daughter with a smile

"Night guys" Kate said as Annie, Anthony, and Kaylee walked towards the door.

"Night mom" said Annie, before stopping and looking at Kayden

"Are you coming?" she asked him

"In a minute" he told his sister

So Annie, Kaylee, and Anthony left the room with Gibbs, leaving only Kayden and Kate. Kate looked at her son and managed half a smile.

"What's on your mind handsome?" she asked

"Can I sit with you?" he asked as he looked at her

"Of course, comeon" she replied as she motioned for him to join her on the bed

He climbed up on the hospital bed and laid down next to his mother, placing his head on her shoulder and his left hand on her stomach. Her right hand went to cover his left hand and she smiled.

"Do you feel them?" she asked her son about the babies

"Yeah" he answered, "Does that mean they're okay?"

"Yeah they're okay" she told him

"For now" Kayden stated

"What?"

"What if you come home in a couple of days and something bad happens to the babies...or to you" he said, whispering the last part

"Kade I want you to listen to me" Kate told her son, "I'm going to be alright. The Doctors are taking good care of me and the babies"

"You're gonna be in the hospital longer than a couple of days, aren't you" Kayden stated, more so than asked

"Probably" she answered

"Mom don't be mad, okay" Kayden began, "But sometimes I feel it when you hurt"

"What?" she questioned

"Today when Aunt Sarah told us that dad was hurt and in the hospital I knew you were okay. But a few hours ago I got a weird feeling that something was wrong with you...And it scared me" he said as he tried to snuggle closer to his mother

Kate smiled when her son told her that because she knew exactly what he meant. She and Tony had both developed certain feelings over the last ten years and they could usually sense when the other was hurt or in trouble. Kate knew it wasn't uncommon for people who had a strong bond between one another.

"Sweetie why would I be mad at you for that?" she asked her son

"I don't want you to think I'm weird" he told her

"Honey I would never think you were weird" she told him, "To tell you the truth, your dad and I get those feelings about each other when one of us is in trouble"

"Really"

"Yep. It's happened a lot actually. It's fairly common between people with a strong bond"

"Oh...Is dad gonna be alright. Uncle Gibbs said we couldn't see him because only adults are allowed in his room"

"Yeah Kade, he's just hurt pretty bad. But you know how stubborn he is. He'll be fine"

Kayden laughed a little before saying, "Dad and Uncle Gibbs always say you're the stubborn one"

"Oh do they" she smiled as Kayden remained smiling and nodding his head

As Kayden slowly stopped giggling he grasped his mother's hand and said,

"I love you mom, more than the millions of-"

"Stars in the sky" she finished

Just then the Doctor came back into the room and smiled at Kate and the boy.

"Well I see that I got the room cleared for the most part" he said

"I was just telling my son one last goodnight" Kate said as she kissed Kayden's forehead

"Goodnight handsome"

"Night mom" he said as he kissed her on the cheek before sitting up and sliding off the bed

"You better take good care of my mom and brothers" Kayden told the Doctor as he left the room

"Got someone who's pretty protective of you I see" the Doctor said to Kate

"Yeah, he's a good kid"

"I was under the impression you didn't know the sex of the babies"

"We don't" Kate smiled, "Our family just has a bet going on what they are going to be"

"I see" the Doctor responded as he gave Kate one last checkup before he left for the night

Once the Doctor had finished Kate's checkup he left for the night. And not five minutes later Gibbs came back into Kate's room.

"Aren't visiting hours over?" she asked

"They're over when I say so"

"What's up?"

"I know you are going to try and sneak down to Tony's room to check on him"

"Gibbs I wasn't going-"

"So I thought I would come up here and make it easier on you" he said a she cut her off

"And how are you planning on doing that" she questioned

That's when he turned back to the door and motioned for someone to come in. When Kate looked at the doorway she saw Jen come in with a smile on her face.

"Hi Kate, how are you feeling?" she asked

"Tired and Pregnant"

"I bet"

"So we are going to get Jen hooked up to all of these monitors, while you and I take a walk down to Tony's room" Gibbs told Kate

"But she's not pregnant" Kate commented

"No I'm not. But I think it will distract the Doctors long enough for you to see your husband" Jen said

Kate nodded as she and Jen began to carefully unhook the wires from Kate and stick them on to Jen's stomach and chest. After a couple of minutes they finally had gotten everything switched. After Kate had put on a robe, she and Gibbs left the room and went to the elevator. Once they got to Tony's floor Gibbs helped Kate off the elevator and they proceeded down the hall to ICU.

"Kate you have to promise me that you won't get excited or stressed out about his condition, for your own sake, okay. I just think he needs to hear your voice, that's why I'm doing this. Now, I'm going to distract the nurses while you go in there and talk to him" Gibbs told her as he pointed out his room.

Kate nodded as she turned away from Gibbs and walked towards Tony's room, while Gibbs walked up to the nurses station to distract them with his complaints about the hospital.

As Kate looked through the glass at Tony she lost her breath. He looked so helpless and her mind immediately went back eleven years to when he was infected with the Y-Pestis. Tears formed in her eyes as she walked into his room and over to his bed. She pulled a chair up to his bed and sat down in it. Then she took his right hand in both of her hands and squeezed it. Then she leaned forward and kissed his cheek as a few tears slid off her cheek and landed on his.

"Oh Tony" Kate cried, "I'm so sorry...For everything"

She closed her eyes and rested her head beside his.

"I love you so much Tony. And you can't leave me. Do you hear me. Especially not with six kids to raise" Kate told him, "Don't you give up on me DiNozzo, do you hear me"

* * *

A/N: I know that was probably a weird place to end it, but oh well. I was having problems finishing this chapter so I gave up. I hope ya'll enjoyed it though. I am going to try everything in my power to get another chapter up next week, because the week after I will be out of state for vacation, but I'm not going to make any promises, I'll just try my hardest. But please review and let me know what ya'll think, because it always helps my ego to know that ya'll like it! 


	6. Hope and Faith

A/N: Well I finally made it back from my family vacation. I would have had this chapter up sooner, had my brothers and I been able to take our electronic devices with us. Unfortunately my parents banned all electronic devices from the trip so I wasn't allowed to take my computer. And also unfortunately for me, all of my brothers did survive without their video games and ipods. So anyways here's the next chapter, hope you enjoy!

**Ch. Six: Hope and Faith**

It had been three days since Tony and McGee had been admitted to the hospital and McGee had finally woken up yesterday. For the most part he seemed to be doing okay, he remembered what had happened leading up to the explosion and he was coherent when people were talking to him.

Tony on the other hand was still unconscious and there had been no changes in his condition. Kate had gotten into trouble not only from her Doctor but also Tony's. Gibbs and Jen had also been scolded for playing a part in getting Kate to Tony's room. However the Doctor's did give up on forbidding Kate from leaving her room to see Tony. They told her that as long as someone went with her and she stayed in a wheelchair she could see him, so of courses she spent most of her time in his room.

Once Gibbs knew that his Agents, for the most part were okay, he went back to NCIS, and with the help of Jen he tried to track down the person who was responsible for the explosion that put Tony and McGee in the hospital, causing them to fight for their lives.

Unfortunately Gibbs came to a dead end when he found that the last person to enter that house was an electrician. The problem was he wasn't a real electrician. The man had killed the real electrician and then impersonated him and nobody seemed to be able to remember anything about him. So they were at a dead end. Just when Gibbs thought their search was going to be ended, they found a fingerprint in the electric van that didn't belong to any of the employees. So Gibbs had it run through the FBI database to see if the unidentified suspect could be identified. But once again there was no returned matches found. So Gibbs kept the fingerprint running through all databases, which could take days or weeks to match, if it matched to anything.

Two days later Gibbs still didn't have a match to their supposed suspect and Tony was still unconscious. McGee on the other hand was now sitting up in bed and eating regular food. He was also able to see his daughter Piper, who seemed to be able to make him forget his pain and instead he marveled at what an amazing kid she was.

Kate was also being released from the hospital under strict orders from the Doctor not to return to work until she had given birth. Gibbs also told her the same thing and surprisingly she didn't argue with either of them. The reason being she wanted to spend as much time as possible with Tony.

"Okay now, Agent Todd, I am releasing you, but I'm ordering you to stay on bed rest and not do any work or high energy activities that could increase your heart rate" the Doctor told Kate

"The only high energy activities I would take part in that could increase my heart rate involve my husband. And if you haven't noticed he's still in the hospital and still unconscious" she told the Doctor dryly

"Don't worry Doctor I'll be watching her" Gibbs said from the doorway of Kate's hospital room.

"That's probably a good idea. She's also going to need someone to bring her up to the hospital twice a week for checkups with us. Just to make sure she and the babies are okay and have been following orders" the Doctor told Gibbs

"I'll take care of it" answered Gibbs

The Doctor nodded before leaving the room

"You ready to go home and see your kids" Gibbs asked as he walked over to the bed Kate was sitting on

"I'd rather Tony be with me" she said quietly

"I know" he replied, "Comeon let's get you home so you can sleep in your own bed" Gibbs said as he took her arm to help her off the bed and into the wheelchair.

"I won't be able to sleep" she said as Gibbs pushed her down the hall towards the elevator

"Kate you can come back tomorrow and see him, don't worry he's going to be okay. There's nothing more you can do for him"

"That's not what I meant" she said as Gibbs stopped and waited for the elevator

He turned and looked at her before it hit him, "You won't be able to sleep because he won't be there with you"

Kate nodded, "It's funny because I always complain that he hogs all the covers and when he is dreaming sometimes he kicks me. And usually whenever he wants to cuddle, I really don't...But whenever he's gone I can't sleep...It's weird"

"No it's not" Gibbs told her with a smile, "You've become accustomed to those things and even though they bug you, you still miss it when he's gone. It happens to a lot of people in relationships"

Gibbs knelt down in front of Kate's wheelchair and placed one hand on her knee. She looked into his eyes and she knew that he was doing everything in his power that he could for her, Tony, and McGee.

"You know what might help you sleep tonight" Gibbs said

"What?" she asked suspiciously

"Having a bed full of kids to sleep with" he told her with a smile

Kate smiled also, knowing that her kids were the only things keeping her sane, which is ironic considering they are usually the ones testing her sanity.

Finally the elevator opened and Gibbs pushed Kate in before the doors closed and they rode down to the ground floor.

Gibbs got Kate home and as soon as he helped her through the front door they were met by a mess of kids.

"Careful guys, don't knock her over" Gibbs told the kids sternly

"Hi Kate. Gibbs called and told me you were coming home and you would probably want the kids here with you" Sarah said as she stood in the living room

"Thanks Sarah" Kate told her with a smile

"Okay well I better get home. Call if you need anything" Sarah said as she walked to the front door

"Kay" replied Kate

"Kade you want to help me get your mom to bed" said Gibbs to the nine year old boy

"Okay" the boy nodded as he took one of his mother's arms and Gibbs took the other and they walked her down the hall towards her bedroom.

"Guys I'm fine, really. I can walk myself" Kate told them

"No arguing Agent Todd" Gibbs told her sternly as they made it over to Kate's bed

"Yeah no arguing mom" Kayden told her

"You two are so overprotective" she said with a smile

Kayden pulled back the covers so Gibbs could help Kate lay down.

"Guys really I'm fine" Kate told them again before looking at the doorway to her room where her other three kids were watching, "Kids go play, I'm fine"

The three of them finally dispersed, leaving only Gibbs and Kayden in her bedroom with her.

"Hey kid, why don't you go play too, I'm okay" Kate said to her oldest son

Kayden just shook his head no and sat down on the bed beside his mother, "You want to watch a movie?" he asked, "Or do you just want to sleep?"

Kate smiled at her son, finding it hard to believe how amazing her was.

"A movie sounds great, why don't you tell your sisters and brother to get their PJ's on and then come in here to watch a movie and have a sleep over"

"Really?" Kayden questioned

"Yeah"

"Okay" he said as he got off the bed and ran out of the room and down the hall to find his siblings.

"Gibbs you can go home now. You know that, right?" Kate said

"Nope. I'm staying here tonight" he told her

"Gibbs I'm-"

"I know, I know, you're fine. But I'm still staying here. Just in case you need something" he told her

"I'm not going to win this argument, am I?" she asked

"No Agent Todd, you're not" he told her

She just shook her head before looking back at him.

"You want to stay in here and watch the movie?" she asked him

"No, you spend time with your family. I'm going to go camp out in the living room" he replied

"They're your family too you know"

"They're your kids Kate"

"Maybe, but you're the reason I have them. You're the reason I have a family" she told him

"I didn't give you this family Kate"

"In a way you did Gibbs. You gave me a job on your team and told me if I ever fraternized with a coworker you'd fire me. But when you found out about Tony and me you let us have our relationship, which led to us having kids. So if you wouldn't have given me a spot on you team I wouldn't have this family" she said looking at Gibbs

Before Gibbs could respond Anthony came running into Kate's bedroom followed by Kaylee. As soon as Anthony touched the foot of Kate's bed he turned around to face Kaylee.

"NaNa I beat you" he said sticking his tongue out at his sister

"You cheated" Kaylee told him

"Nuh-uh"

"Uh-huh. You pushed me" she stated

"Brother it's just like being around you and Tony" Gibbs stated as he rolled his eyes before he turned to leave the bedroom.

Kate smiled as she patted the bed for Anthony and Kaylee to join her. They climbed up and Kaylee snuggled up next to her mom, while Anthony laid next to Kaylee. A few minutes later Annie came into the room and crawled up onto the bed to lay next to Anthony. Finally Kayden came into the bedroom and squeezed himself onto the edge of the bed next to his mother.

"Okay, you guys ready to watch the movie?" Kate asked them

"Yep"

"Yep"

"Yes"

Kate looked at Kayden since he was the only one who didn't answer and he just nodded. Kate smiled before she pressed play and everyone snuggled together to watch the movie.

Meanwhile Gibbs was laying on the couch listening to the giggles that would echo down the hall ever so often. He smiled to himself as he began to reminisce about how this team had been joined together and how they had managed to stay together for so long.

A couple of hours later Gibbs woke up to find himself asleep on Tony and Kate's couch. Then he remembered why he was there, so he got up and walked down the hallway to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. He opened the door and found all four kids asleep in the bed along with Kate. He looked at the Tv and saw a blue screen, so he walked over to the TV to turn it off. But before he did he took one last look at Kate and the kids and smiled as he looked at them all squished together on the bed and sprawled across each other.

He looked at Kayden who was asleep on his left side, his head buried in Kate's shoulder and his right arm draped almost protectively across her chest, and he noticed Kate's right arm draped over Kayden's side almost like she was trying to prevent him from falling off the bed. Then Gibbs looked at Kaylee who was lying on her back with her right arm looped around Kate's left arm and her forehead resting against Kate's shoulder. As Gibbs' eyes traveled to Anthony he smiled even wider when he noticed Anthony asleep on his stomach with his little left arm draped across Kaylee's stomach and his hand holding onto Kate's and his head laying partially on Kaylee's left arm. Then Gibbs' eyes followed Anthony's right arm and saw it pulled up to his shoulder but noticed that he was holding Annie's hand and that she was sound asleep on her right side and that she had both her hands clasped together up next to her face with Anthony's hand in the middle of hers.

Gibbs whispered goodnight before quietly closing the bedroom door behind him and walking back to the couch to go to sleep.

The next morning Gibbs awoke to two kids pouncing on him.

"Morning Uncle Gibbs" said Kaylee with a smile

"Morning Princess" he replied

"I'm hungry" Anthony said as he and Kaylee both sat on Gibbs

"Is your mom still asleep?" Gibbs asked the young children

"Uh-huh and Kade and Annie are too" Kaylee told him

Gibbs looked at his watch and saw that it was only 7:30 AM on a Saturday

"Okay well what do you guys want to eat?" he asked

"Pancakes" Anthony yelled

"Shhh, not too loud T" Gibbs told him as he motioned for Kaylee and Anthony to get off of him

They hopped off and watched as Gibbs walked down the hall to the master bedroom and got all of the animals to follow him out. Then he shut the door and walked back towards the living room and passed Kaylee and Anthony as he opened the back door and let the dog out. Then he walked into the kitchen and fed the two cats.

"Alright so you two want pancakes?" Gibbs asked as he turned around to look at the two youngsters.

Kaylee and Anthony both smiled and nodded their heads before running over to Gibbs to help him get the ingredients together. As they were mixing the different things together Gibbs told Anthony to let Hobie back in so that he could eat also. Once that was done Anthony climbed back onto his chair and looked at Gibbs.

"Do you know where Hobie came from?" he asked Gibbs

"Yes" he answered

"Will you tell me the story?" Anthony asked

"Why?"

"Cause it's about my daddy" stated the four year old

Gibbs nodded, "Okay" as he began to think back to nearly four years ago.

_3 and ½ Years Ago:_

_Tony had never been one to associate himself with animals. For one reason or another he always seemed to be disliked by them. But for the past few months his five year old son, Kayden, had been begging him and Kate for a dog...a big dog. He and Kate had discussed the possibility because Kate had been known to be a sucker when it came to animals. However, at this time she thought it was best to not have any. They had too much to deal with already with four small children ranging from ten months to five years, and that according to Kate was chaotic enough._

_But for some reason Tony rather enjoyed the thought of having a dog. He also liked the idea of having a dog to help guard the house, especially when he would have to leave town for a couple days during a case, leaving Kate at home with four small kids. And it's not that she couldn't protect herself, Tony knew she could. But with four small kids to protect as well, he started to like the idea of a dog more and more._

_While they were at work Kate was busy writing up a report when she got the feeling someone was watching her._

"_What do you want DiNozzo?" she asked without looking up from her work_

"_How'd you know it was me staring at you and not Gibbs?" Tony asked_

_Kate stopped what she was doing and looked up at Tony with a smile on her face, "I've been working here long enough to know when it's Gibbs staring at me" she told him, "Besides I've lived with you the past five and a half years and I know when your staring at me. It's how we do most of our communicating since you sometimes have trouble putting words together to form coherent sentences"_

"_Haha" said Tony sarcastically as Kate smiled and giggled to herself_

"_Anways Kate, I was thinking" Tony began_

"_Uh-oh" Kate replied as she once again stopped what she was doing and gave her full attention to Tony._

"_I was thinking" Tony repeated as he glared at Kate and then stood up from his chair_ _and walked towards Kate's desk, "That sometimes Gibbs sends me away for a few days on a case, you know, and-"_

"_No" Kate said before Tony even finished his sentence_

"_But you didn't know what-"_

"_You're going to feed me some line about our house being safer with a dog, blah, blah, blah" she stated_

_Tony stood in front of Kate's desk, his lips pushed together in a pout, to which Kate just smiled._

"_But Kate"_

"_We aren't going to have this discussion again Tony. We'll talk about getting animals when the kids get older" she told him_

_And before Tony could object Gibbs walked up behind him and Tony immediately tensed._

"_DiNozzo I hope you're not discussing family at work" Gibbs said as he stood behind Tony_

"_No Boss, just discussing the report with Kate. She didn't agree with me on the way it should be done" said Tony_

"_Oh, well then why don't you just take care of it yourself" Gibbs suggested as he walked over to his desk_

"_Well I don't want to-"_ _Tony began as he turned to look at Gibbs who had one of his trademark looks on his face, "Right, I'll take care of it" Tony said turning back to Kate who had a huge smile on her face as she handed him the file with part of a report. Tony took the report and narrowed his eyes at her to let her know he was upset, which made her smile grow even wider as she winked at him._

_When Tony and Kate left the office for the evening they drove mostly in silence to Sarah and Chris' house to pick up the kids. But about halfway there Tony brought up the dog again._

"_Kate I really think it would be good for the kids to have a dog. It could teach them to be more responsible"_

"_Since when do you care how responsible they are" Kate joked_

_Tony just turned his eyes away from the road and looked coldly at Kate before turning his attention back to the road._

"_I didn't mean it like that"_

"_Yes you did" Tony said, "And your right. I had everything that money could buy when I was a kid. And I don't want my kids to be like that, I mean look how long it took me to grow up"_

"_Nobody said you were grown up Tony" Kate told him_

"_Exactly. I don't want my kids to be that way. I want them to earn what they want."_

"_Tony you might act like a big kid most of the time. But I love that about you. I mean yes it drives me crazy most of the time, but it also makes me laugh, a lot. And I wouldn't have it any other way" she smiled, "I mean do you think I would be married to you if you weren't mature enough to handle it"_

_Tony smiled slightly from the corner of his mouth._

"_Kate having a dog would teach them to be more responsible"_

"_No, it would teach Kayden to be more responsible because he's the one who wants the dog and I'm sure he would be the only one taking care of it" Kate said to Tony_

"_Well then at least we'll have one responsible child" Tony smiled_

"_I don't know if you've noticed, but for a five year old boy, Kayden is very responsible"_

"_That's true"_

"_Tony I know you want him to have a dog, but I would rather not have a puppy in the house while Anthony is still so little. I mean puppies don't understand when they are hurting someone, to them they're just playing"_

"_But Kayden really wants one"_

"_Yeah and the only reason you want to get him one is so that he will like you better"_

_Tony was silent after Kate said that and she knew she had hurt his feelings, which really wasn't her intention._

"_Tony I didn't mean it like that" she said softly as she placed her hand on his thigh, "He's just a little boy-"_

"_Yeah Kate, he's a little boy. Boys should call for their dad when they're scared or want to talk. But he goes straight to you for everything"_

_Kate smiled before saying, "Maybe, but I recall a certain newly turned five year old girl who wants her daddy to put her to bed and kiss her owies when she's hurt"_

_As Kate looked at Tony she saw his face soften and a smile form on his lips as he thought about Annie._

"_I'm sure they'll grow out of that phase soon. Kayden will get to where he only wants to do things with his dad_

"_I guess" replied Tony who took his right hand and covered her hand that was still on his thigh._

_They had worked pretty late into the evening and by the time they had arrived at Chris and Sarah's house it was 8:30 PM and they found all of the kids already asleep._

"_We went ahead and gave them their baths and found some different clothes to put them in" Chris told Kate when they walked into the living room_

"_Oh Chris, thank you so much. I'm so sorry it took us this long. I promise our sitter will be back next week" Kate told him gratefully as she hugged him_

"_It's no problem sis, we love having the kids over. Besides it gives Shane and Shauna someone else to entertain besides us" he told Kate with a smile as he led Tony and Kate up the stairs to the two children's bedrooms, "The girls are in Shauna's room and the boys are in Shane's room"_

"_Thanks again man" Tony told Chris as he shook his hand_

"_I'll get the boys Tony" Kate said as she opened Shane's bedroom door_

"_We'll help you" Chris said as he followed his sister into his son's room and Sarah followed Tony into Shauna's room._

_Chris picked up Kayden and Kate got Anthony and they met Tony who had Annie, and Sarah who had Kaylee, in the hallway. They all walked out to the SUV and got all the kids buckled into their car seats and booster seats before Kate gave her brother and sister-in-law one last hug and kiss thank you._

_Tony and Kate drove home and arrived at their house a little after 9 PM. They unbuckled all the kids from their seats and Tony picked Kayden up and handed him to Kate. Then he picked Anthony up and handed him to Kate as well. Then he picked up Annie up into his arms and bent down to get Kaylee as well. They managed to get all of the kids inside and in bed without waking them._

_The next day was Saturday and while Tony and Kate were having their morning coffee, they were also reading the newspaper. Tony happened to be looking through the classified section when he came across dogs for sale. He memorized the number of one in particular and then told Kate he was going to get dressed. When he got to their bedroom he shut the door and quickly dialed the number from the paper._

"_Hello"_

"_Hi, are you the one selling the German Shepherds?"_

"_Yes sir I am"_

"_Awesome, how many do you have?"_

"_We have five left. Three females and two males"_

"_Have you had a lot of calls this morning?" Tony asked_

"_Yes sir and I already sold two"_

"_Okay. Could I get your address. I'm really interested in taking a look at them"_

"_Alright. I live at 213 Wooden Oak and my name is John"_

"_Okay thanks John, my name is Tony. I'll try and get there as soon as possible"_

_Tony then hung up and got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt before casually walking back down the hall, making sure to wake up all of the kids in the process. Soon kids were filing into the kitchen, including a very grumpy ten month old._

_Kate was standing at the kitchen sink when she felt something tug at her pants leg. She looked down to find Anthony with one hand holding onto her pants to help support himself standing up and the other hand rubbing his eye. She smiled as she bent down to pick him up._

"_Well hey there Little-T. And who got you up and out of your crib?" she said as she placed him on her hip_

_His response was just to hold onto her t-shirt with one hand and ball his other hand up, sticking his thumb in his mouth, before laying his head down on her shoulder and closing his eyes._

_When Kate turned around she found Kayden and Annie already sitting at the table waiting for breakfast. Then she saw Tony come around the corner with Kaylee in his arms in almost the exact same position as Anthony. She had her thumb in her mouth and her other hand wrapped around Tony's neck._

"_Tony are you the one who woke the kids up?" Kate asked suspiciously_

"_Me? Of course not" he lied_

"_Yes you did" Kayden said as he looked at his father_

"_Yeah daddy you woke us up" Annie stated_

"_Tony you know I needed to run to the store to get some groceries this morning" Kate told him_

"_Yeah and?"_

"_I wasn't planning on taking anyone with me"_

"_That's fine. I'll watch them all" Tony offered_

_Kate looked at him suspiciously, "All four of them? At the same time?"_

"_Kate I think I can handle it" he told her as he rolled his eyes_

"_You said that a couple months ago and when I got back home you were tied up in a chair" stated Kate_

"_I told you, we were playing a game"_

"_Right" Kate nodded her head, "The game called lets tie up daddy and then destroy the house so mom has to clean it all up"_

"_I can handle it this time. I promise we won't play any games like that" he told her_

"_Yeah well just to be on the safe side I think I'll take the two little ones with me"_

"_They'll be fine. Just go get dressed" he told her as he held out his free hand so that she could pass Anthony off to him, which she did"_

_Before she left the kitchen she grabbed a box of cereal, two bowls, and the milk, and set it down in front of Kayden and Annie. Then she kissed both of them on the head before going to her bedroom to change._

_When Kate was busy changing, Tony made a quick phone call to McGee._

"_McGee" Tony said as soon as he heard the line pick up_

"_Tony is that you?" McGee said groggily_

"_You know for a brainiac that was a stupid question" Tony said_

"_What do you want. It's like 8 AM on a Saturday morning"McGee complained_

"_I need your help with something. Be at my house in fifteen minutes" Tony ordered him_

"_But Tony I have a family of my own-"_

"_No excuses McGee just be here" Tony said before he hung up on McGee_

_A few minutes later Kate came back into the kitchen dressed in jeans a little t-shirt_. _She went over to Kaylee's high chair and lifted her out of it placing her on her hip._

"_Hey where are you taking my Little Princess?" Tony asked as he stood in front of Kate_

"_I'm taking her with me Tony. And you can bring Anthony back into the babies room and change him while I get Kaylee ready" she told him as she stepped around him_

"_No no, Anthony wants to stay here with me" Tony said picking Anthony up out of his high chair and following Kate down the hall to the babies room._

_Kate was already in the process of changing Kaylee so Tony just stood there with Anthony in his arms trying to come up with the best way to persuade Kate that he really did want his kids to stay at home with him, even though they would technically be with McGee._

"_Tony-"_

"_Okay if you really want to take both little ones with you then be my guest, but I really think Anthony wants to stay here with me" Tony said as he held his son out to Kate_

_As soon as Kate reached for Anthony he started to cry so Tony held him back to his chest._

"_See he wants to stay here"_

_Kate just slanted her eyes at Tony trying to figure out what he was up to, because she knew he was up to something. But as she was about to reach out for Anthony again he held his little hands up to Tony's face and squeezed Tony's mouth together to make him look like a fish._

_Kate laughed before saying, "Well I can see he is enjoying himself so I will just take Kaylee with me. But try and keep our house in one piece and don't lose any of the kids" she told him as she picked Kaylee up and walked past Tony, making sure to give him a kiss on her way out of the bedroom._

_Once Kate had left Tony cleaned the kids up and got Anthony changed. Then right on cue McGee showed up looking agitated._

"_You know Tony, I do have my own life now. I don't know if you realize it but I have a wife and daughter now. You might remember them since we work with my wife. Her name is Abby-"_

"_Okay McGee stop your complaining. This won't take very long. I just need you to watch the three kids while I run an errand" Tony said as he grabbed his coat_

"_Uh Tony. Don't you have four kids"_

"_I don't think so McGee" Tony said acting confused_

_McGee just stared at him until Tony laughed, "I'm joking McGee geeze. Kaylee is with Kate. You just watch the other three and I'll be back in about an hour"_

"_But-"_

"_No buts McGee" Tony said as he shut the front door behind him and ran out to his car_

_It took him about fifteen minutes to get to the house he was looking for. Lucky for him John lived fairly close. Once Tony got there and went through the front gate two German Shepherds came running towards him barking, causing Tony to turn around and run back towards the gate and jump over the small fence. That's when a man came out of the front door of the house with a smile on his face._

"_Hey there, they won't hurt you, they just wanted to play and greet you" the man said to Tony_

_Tony smiled slightly and nodded his head as he opened the front gate again. This time both of the dogs ran up to him and started licking his hands._

"_See I told you they won't hurt you" the man said_

"_I'm guessing you're John"_

"_Yep that'd be me"_

"_I'm Tony I talked to you earlier"_

"_Right well follow me around back where the pups are" John said as he started to walk around the house with Tony following._

"_So are you sure you want a German Shepherd young man. I mean you didn't seem to take to those two to well" John said indicating his two dogs_

"_Yes, well it's actually for my son. He's been after us for months now to get him a dog"_

"_Ahh, well how old is he?"_

"_Five and a half"_

"_And he wants a German Shepherd?"_

"_Yes well he loves Rin Tin Tin" Tony joked, although John didn't find it humorous_, _"Actually he's been wanting a big dog and I figured our house would be safer if we had something like this"_

"_Uh-huh. Well how big is your family?"_

"_Well I have four kids ranging from about a year old to almost six years old"_

"_And the misses stays at home with them"_

_Tony smiled, "Not exactly, we work together. We're Federal Agents"_

_John's eyes grew wide before he said, "Well I've had German Shepherds all my life and they are great dogs. Good with kids as long as they grow up with them and they will protect their human family no matter what"_

"_Sounds like just what I'm looking for" Tony said as he looked down at the puppies_

_As Tony looked at them one in particular caught his eye. It kept coming up to his jeans and grabbing hold of his pants leg and would hold on to it as Tony walked around. Tony smiled because it reminded him of how Kayden used to hang onto his leg when he was little bitty and Tony would pull him around on the floor. Then when Tony picked the puppy up it licked him on the face._

"_Well John I think I found the perfect one" Tony smiled_

_Tony made it back to his house and was only gone about an hour. He snuck the puppy into his jacket before going through the front door very quietly. He saw McGee in the living room playing with some blocks with Anthony._

"_Hey McGee" Tony whispered causing McGee to turn around, "Where's Kayden?"_

"_Uh, he and Annie just went to find a board game to play" McGee told him as he looked at Tony suspiciously, "Why?"_

"_I have a surprise for him"_

"_Ohhh no. I don't want to have anything to do with any surprises, especially if Kate doesn't know about it" McGee said standing up and backing away from Tony._

"_Settle down Probie"_

"_Hey I'm not a probie anymore"_

"_McGee shhh" Tony said as the puppy started to move around inside his jacket_

_McGee saw the movement and his eyes grew wide, "Tony that better not be a puppy stuck under there because I heard Kate specifically say no dogs"_

"_Will you grow up McGee she's going to fall in love with it"_

"_That's true. I mean if she managed to fall in love with you she should fall in love with a cute puppy like twice as fast"_

"_You better watch your mouth Probie or I'm going to tell Kate and Abby that you were in on it" Tony told him as he took the puppy out of his jacket._

_Just then Kayden and Annie came running back into the living room and Kayden stopped dead in his tracks. Tony noticed them and motioned for both children to come over to him._

"_Hey Kade. Come here I have something for you" Tony said as Kayden walked slowly over to his father_

_Kayden saw the puppy and immediately dropped to his knees to hug it, "Is it for me daddy?"_

"_It sure is son, just consider it an early birthday present" Tony told him_

_Kayden and Annie continued to play with the puppy while Tony tried to warm Anthony up to the idea of a dog. McGee saw his chance and excused himself, telling Tony that he needed to get back home to Abby and Piper._

_Some thirty minutes later Tony heard Kate pull into the driveway so he ushered Annie and Kayden into Kayden's room with the puppy. Then Tony took Anthony and put him in his playpen in the living room before walking outside to help Kate with the groceries. Once they got all of the groceries inside and Kaylee put in the playpen with Anthony Kate noticed that her two oldest children were nowhere in sight._

"_Tony what happened to our oldest children?" Kate asked as she began to walk down the hallway_

"_Oh sweetheart don't we want to put all the groceries away before we go look for them" Tony called after her, "They're taking a nap" he yelled as he ran after her_

"_Tony they just got up a couple of hours ago" she said right before she was about to open up Annie's room. But right before she did she heard what she thought was a yelp come from Kayden's room. She turned around and looked at Tony suspiciously before walking to Kayden's door and opening it._

_When she opened the door she found Kayden and Annie playing on the floor._

"_Hi mommy" they both said looking up at her_

"_Hey guys, whatchya doing?" she asked casually as she began to walk around the bedroom_

"_Nothing" Kayden answered sweetly_

"_Mmhmm, is it just you guys in here?" she asked as she headed for Kayden's closet_

"_Yes" Annie answered_

_As soon as Kate opened the closet the puppy came bounding out and ran right over to Kayden and jumped into his lap before licking his face and then jumping out of his lap and grabbing hold of Kayden's shirt and pulling it._

"_Hey" Kayden giggled, "That's my shirt get your own" he said as he fell over_

"_Anthony Michael DiNozzo where did that dog come from" Kate said angrily as she turned and stared at her husband_

"_Actually honey it's still a puppy" he told her_

_That just made Kate angrier and she slanted her eyes at him before walking over to him and pushing him in the chest to move him out of Kayden's room so that she could shut the door._

"_What the hell were you thinking. We had this discussion and we came to the agreement of no dogs until the kids were older" she said angrily but softly_

"_Actually you came to that decision" he countered_

_Kate just narrowed her eyes more and pursed her lips at him as she placed her hands on her hips._

"_You did this just to piss me off, didn't you" she said harshly_

"_Not entirely, I just think that the kids need a pet"_

"_Well then why don't we get a little dog house and put it in the backyard and you can live in it" said Kate_

"_Ooo Kate I love it when you're angry like this. It's a real turn on" Tony said as he stepped towards her_

_Kate held up her hand, "Do not come anywhere near me" she told him, "I am so pissed at you. You know if our kids weren't in the next room I would kick your ass"_

_Tony smiled fearfully, "Well in that case I would just like you to know that McGee helped me find the dog"_

_Kate looked at Tony suspiciously, "He wouldn't. He knew that I didn't want one"_

_Tony just shrugged his shoulders, "Well he was here earlier"_

"_Ugghh" let out Kate before turning and walking back to the kitchen to put the groceries away._

_A few minutes later Kayden came into the kitchen and drug the stool from in the corner over to where Kate was. He climbed up on the stool and began to hand Kate the can goods that went in the cabinet above them. While they were putting the cans away Kayden began talking to his mom._

"_Are you mad at me?" Kayden asked as he handed his mom a can_

"_No Little Man" she told him as she took the can from him_

"_Are you mad at daddy?" her son asked_

"_A little bit, yeah" she told him_

"_Cause he got me a dog" Kayden asked sadly_

"_Well it's not just that" Kate said as she put the last can away and turned to look into her five and a half year old's hazil-brown eyes_

"_Comere handsome" she said to him as she held out her arms to him_

_Kayden immediately held out his arms as well so she picked him up off the stool and carried him into the living room. Then she sat down on the couch with Kayden sitting on her lap still facing her._

"_See your daddy and I weren't going to get you a dog until you got a little older, but he thought you needed one now" she told her son who was paying close attention to what she was saying. It was in watching him right then that she knew he was definitely her son because if he was more like Tony he wouldn't be paying attention to anything she was saying, and she couldn't help but smile at the concept._

"_I can give the puppy back" Kayden told her_

_Kate shook her head, "No handsome I think you're old enough to have a puppy, but you are going to have to take care of it okay"_

_Kayden smiled and nodded his head quickly, "I will I promise"_

"_Okay then"_

"_Mommy"_

"_Yes" she said looking into her son's eyes_

"_Will you help me to remember to feed him?" he asked her sweetly_

"_Yeah kid, I will" she told him with a smile_

"_Thanks mommy. I love you" he told her as he threw his arms around her neck and hugged her before kissing her on the cheek and hopping off of her lap_

_Kate just smiled as he ran off down the hall to his bedroom. When she turned around Tony was standing there._

"_How long have you been standing there?" she asked him_

"_Long enough to know something is severely wrong" he answered_

"_What do you mean, what's wrong?" Kate asked worriedly_

"_No nothing like that" he said, "I just meant I was the one who was supposed to get the hug 'I love you' from Kayden"_

"_Well maybe if you would have done things the way I said then he would be thanking you" she told him_

"_You still mad at me?" he asked as he came and sat down next to her on the couch_

"_What do you think DiNozzo" she countered_

"_I think that you fell in love with the puppy as soon as you saw it come running out of the closet, kind of like how fast you fell in love with me, and I don't think you are really upset with me"_

"_Well your right about the falling in love with the puppy...but I fell in love with it a lot faster than I fell in love with you" she told him with a smile_

"_Funny"_

"_I think so" she said as she got up and walked over to the playpen to pick up Kaylee, "I guess we should get these two used to the puppy also"_

_That night while Kate and Tony were putting the kids to bed she was in Kayden's room tucking him when Kate asked,_

"_So have you thought of any names?"_

"_I don't know. I want something cool" he told her_

"_Well then, maybe you should ask your dad. I bet he could come up with a cool name" she told her son as she winked at him_

_He nodded his head and when Tony came into the bedroom to say goodnight Kayden smiled up at him._

"_Daddy what's a cool name I could name my puppy?"_

"_You want my help naming your dog?"_

"_Yeah you did get it for me"_

"_Right well what about Spike or Tank or Hobie-"_

"_Hobie I like that name" Kayden said excitedly_

"_Well then, there ya go" Tony said with a smile_

_As Tony leaned down to kiss his son goodnight Kayden threw his arms around his neck and hugged him, "Thanks daddy. I love you"_

_Tony smiled as he replied, "I love you too son"_

_As Tony and Kate walked to their bedroom Kate smiled at Tony, "Feel better?" she asked_

"_Yeah actually, I do" he answered with a smile as grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulders running to their bedroom as she laughed at his antics._

"_Don't think I have forgiven you DiNozzo" she laughed_

"_What about McGee?" Tony questioned_

"_I'm going to kick his ass at work on Monday" she stated right before Tony shut their bedroom door_

Present Day:

"So daddy got Hobie without telling mommy?" Kaylee asked as she sat at the kitchen table eating her pancakes

Gibbs smiled, "Yep"

"I bet he got into a lot of trouble, huh?" asked Anthony

Gibbs nodded, "Yeah more than I'm telling you"

About an hour later Kayden came dragging into the kitchen looking for some breakfast.

"Hey Kade" Gibbs said from the living room where he sat watching cartoons with Anthony and Kaylee

"What's for breakfast?" Kayden asked

Gibbs got up and walked into the kitchen, "How about some pancakes?"

"Cool" he answered as he sat down at the table

"Is your mom still asleep?" Gibbs asked the boy

Kayden nodded, "Yeah she and Annie"

"Okay"

Once Kayden had finished breakfast he wandered into the living room and plopped down on the couch to watch cartoons with his brother and sister. A few minutes later Gibbs came and joined him on the couch.

"Can we go see my dad today?" Kayden asked as he turned to look at Gibbs

"I'm sure your mom will want to. But you guys still can't go into his room, not until he gets moved into a different room"

"When will that be?"

"I don't know son" Gibbs said as he patted Kayden on the head, "We just need to have some hope"

"And faith" added Kayden as he looked at Gibbs, "My mom said she had hope and faith that dad was going to be okay"

Gibbs just looked down at the bright nine year old and smiled, "Your mom is right"

"I know" Kayden smiled as he turned his attention back to the television

About thirty minutes later Gibbs got up from the couch and walked down the hallway to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. He opened the door and walked inside to check on Kate. He walked up to the bed and smiled when he saw Annie sprawled across almost the entire bed with her head on Kate's arm and her feet extending across the width of the bed. Once Gibbs got next to the bed Kate opened her eyes.

"Morning Kate" Gibbs said to her

"Morning" she replied

"Did you sleep okay?" he asked her as he sat down on the bed next to her

"I guess, considering the circumstances" she told him

Gibbs nodded, "Would you like some pancakes?"

"I'm not really hungry"

"Kate you have to eat to keep your strength up"

"Gibbs"

"Agent Todd" he said glaring at her

"Fine maybe a couple" she said giving in, "But will you at least help me to the living room so I can sit with my kids?"

Gibbs nodded as stood up and helped Kate sit up and turn to get out of bed, waking up Annie in the process.

"Hey Spunky" Gibbs said when she saw the eight and a half year old open her eyes

"Is it morning already?" she asked groggily

"Yeah baby it is" Kate answered

"Mom I'm not a baby anymore I'm gonna be nine in a week" she told her mother seriously

"Right I'm sorry"

"You want some pancakes Spunky? I'm gonna go make your mom some" Gibbs asked the girl

"I guess" she answered as she sat up in bed and looked around, "Did everyone else get up?"

"Yep their in the living room watching cartoons" answered Gibbs

"Good I'm gonna go back to sleep then" she said as she crawled back under the covers

"Annie it's nine o'clock you need to get up" Kate told her daughter

"No"

"Annie"

"Just a little longer mom" she whined

Kate just rolled her eyes and nodded to Gibbs who helped her stand up and walk out of the bedroom and down the hall. When they got to the kitchen Kayden was there washing his glass out in the sink.

"Morning Mom" he smiled as he walked over to her

"Morning Handsome" she responded as she gave him a hug

"Where are you going?" he asked looking up at her

"I guess to the couch"

"Okay" he said as he took one of her hands and helped Gibbs walk her to the couch

"Where's Annie?" Kayden asked as he sat down next to his mother

"Still asleep"

Kayden shook his head, "She's just like dad. I think they can sleep forever"

Kate nodded with a smile, "Yeah they can"

Later that day after everyone was up and dressed Gibbs drove them all to the hospital and took Kate to Tony's room while the kids went down the hall to visit McGee, Abby, and Piper. Then Gibbs left Kate alone with Tony while he went back to visit McGee along with the kids.

While Kate was sitting in her wheelchair next to Tony's bed she began to run her fingers through his short hair while she talked to him. She talked to him about anything and everything that came to mind.

"I was thinking Tony. Do you remember right after Anthony's first birthday how we planned a getaway to the beach, just you and me?" she asked him, hoping that maybe, just maybe he would answer her

"Remember how my parents flew in to watch the kids that week we were gone" Kate smiled, "We did some crazy stuff that week, huh?"

"And I'm not talking about kinky stuff either DiNozzo" Kate smiled knowing that he would have been thinking it, "I'm just talking about crazy stuff in general. I think we acted more like two teenagers than two grown adults with four kids"

"Of course I would never forget the kinky stuff that we did" Kate laughed, "Remember how we took some pictures of each other and when we got back to work that next week I emailed you a picture of me to remind you how much fun we had"

Kate paused as she looked at Tony wishing he was awake to laugh with her.

"Remember I walked over to your desk right after you got it and whispered in your ear. And of course Gibbs picked that moment to walk around the corner" Kate laughed again, "We both jumped up and tried to cover the computer screen with our bodies, while Gibbs looked at us strangely"

_Five Years Ago:_

_Tony and Kate had just started work again after their week long vacation. It was now late morning on a Monday afternoon and there was no current case that they were working on so Kate decided to have a little fun with Tony. She knew she had some of the pictures that she and Tony had taken of each other from their vacation stored in her email, so she emailed Tony one of the pictures of her._

_When Tony's computer beeped at him he opened his email to find a picture of Kate in a very compromising position. He looked across his desk at Kate who had an even more seductive look on her face. Tony swallowed hard as she got up and walked around his desk placing one hand on the back of his chair and the other hand on his desk as she leaned down and whispered in his ear,_

"_Think you might enjoy seeing me in that position again tonight?"_

_Tony nearly fell out of his chair, but before he had a chance to respond Gibbs came around the corner causing Tony and Kate to both jump and Tony quickly turned and sat on his desk to try and block his computer screen as Kate stood next to Tony trying to do the same._

"_What are you two doing?"_

"_Nothing" they answered simultaneously_

_Gibbs looked at them suspiciously as he grabbed his coffee off of his desk and then turned back around, walking past them and heading to the elevator._

"_You two better grab your gear and get into the elevator or you won't be seeing each other like that ever again" Gibbs yelled as he pressed the down button on the elevator_

_Tony and Kate both stood there stunned with their mouths agape looking at Gibbs._

"_Now Agents" he yelled again as he stepped into the elevator_

_Tony immediately shut off his computer and grabbed his bag as Kate ran over to her desk and grabbed her bag and they both ran to the elevator jumping into it right before the doors shut. Gibbs smiled at his two Agents when they entered the elevator because they were both a bright shade of red and he had never seen that before. And on the drive to the crime scene McGee sat in the front seat and Tony and Kate sat in the back and nobody said a word the entire way there._

Present Day:

Kate continued to smile as she finished the story. Then she looked back down at Tony as she took his hand in hers and began to rub the back of his hand.

As she continued to rub circles on the back of his hand she was looking down at their hands when she felt him squeeze her hand. She immediately looked up and saw his green eyes looking at her. She immediately began to cry as she kissed his cheek and pressed the call button before laying her head on his chest as she waited for the doctors and nurses to come in.

Once they had gotten his breathing tube out and checked him out they left Tony and Kate alone for a little bit while they got a different room ready for him.

He laid there looking up into Kate's eyes as she held his hand and continued to run her fingers through his hair. She wanted to hear his voice so badly, but the doctors said his throat would be soar for awhile and it would probably be better if he didn't talk to much. She was just thankful she got to look into his beautiful green eyes again.

Of course Tony will be Tony and he wanted to say something to her and he finally got it out.

"Think we...can go on another...vacation like...the one you were...talking about?" he asked her hoarsely but with a huge smile on his face

Kate just laughed before kissing him on the mouth and saying, "Believe it or not DiNozzo I actually missed you... a lot"

* * *

A/N: Well there's the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed. Please, Please, Please review and let me know what you think. It always helps to know that ya'll like it. It encourages me to write more! 


	7. Author Updated

A/N: I just wanted to apologize to all of ya'll for not updating in like a month. I have been moving into a new house, yet again, and this whole past month has been a nightmare. And to make matters worse I start school next week, and I just started a new job like two days ago. Hopefully I will have some time to start working on my stories again either this weekend or next weekend. I am not going to make any promises though as to when they will be up, I just wanted ya'll to know that I haven't abandoned them...They will get finished, I promise. Just please stick with me, cause my loyal fans, ya'll are the best, and I don't want to lose ya'll.

Alex


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